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Command line audio players

What are popular audio players for the command line?

• How to play a single sound file?
• Are there command line players that also index the music library like Banshee, Exaile, etc.?

How do you install avconv on Ubuntu Server 13.04?

I've searched and searched, but I can't find anything, besides compiling it, which gives me an error about ASM.

Automatically adjust the volume based on content?

In different audio sources the level of sounds are different. It's very annoying to set the level of sound on almost every media content. Sometimes, when before you had something quiet, you had to adjust it more louder and after some time you want to play another media - bang! it unexpectedly breaks your headphones, the sound is so loud!

So, is there some plugin/feature which can automatically adjust the level of sound on every media content?

How to play mp3 files from the command line?

I have installed Ubuntu 11.10 server.. so command line only.

I need to be able to play audio (.mp3 & .wav) files via the command line!

I've installed the MPD & Audacious packages... and copied some files to a location specified in the .conf file.

But what do I do to acutally play the .mp3 files??

Also, how can I confirm the AUDIO is working correctly?

How can I change the default audio device from command line?

Ubuntu's desktop gui is great for changing audio settings (System->Preferences->Sound), like the default input/output device and setting the volume.

However, I would like to be able to do these things from the command-line. What tool is the gui using behind the scenes?

How do I quit Banshee?

When I press the X button in Banshee's title bar, it hides, but the music continues playing. However, from time to time I need to quit Banshee completely. How can I do that? (pressing "close" from the menu bar doesn't help)

I know I could go for running killall banshee but that's not an elegant solution. Any other ideas? Is it even possible?

EDIT: After first few answers I noticed I must underline, I do not want to stop the music playback, I do not want to hide Banshee's window. What I want is to quit Banshee totally, in order f.e. to start JACK audio server (and for example restart Banshee).

Generate white noise to calm a baby

I have a three week old baby. Occasionally she refuses to sleep. Some people tell me this is the way life is, some people tell me I need to buy things to fix it. This is becoming an alarmingly common pattern in this parenting game.

Anyway one of these things "I need to buy" is a white noise generator. White noise defined as:

a random signal is considered "white noise" if it is observed to have a flat spectrum over the range of frequencies that is relevant to the context. For an audio signal, for example, the relevant range is the band of audible sound frequencies, between 20 to 20,000 Hz.

There are several things I can buy. Apps for Android, dedicated boxes that I'm sure just play a tiny clip of pre-generated noise, all the way to mega-expensive true-random white noise generators.

I want to generate my own white noise sample

I know I could download one with youtube-dl from one of the many videos out there but copyright aside, frequency compression is horrible online I want full-white-frequency goodness. If such a thing actually exists. Plus I'm a glutton for punishment and I believe that if something can be done via the command line, that's the way we should be doing it. That's how I aim to raise this one anyway.

So we have things like /dev/urandom and paplay. Is there a sensible way to take random data and channel it into the audible range of white noise and out of my speakers? Answers that write to file are okay too. The important thing is a steady range-confined sample. No squawks.

Note: answers that generate the brown note will not be appreciated ☹

Terminal command to set audio volume?

I have an external sound card which mostly works fine, except that when its first plugged in, or when I turn on my laptop, the volume gets set to 100%. That is, the overall system volume, as shown in the sound indicator.

What I'm looking for is a terminal command that will set that volume to 50%, so that I can run it on login and not have to worry that the first audio I play is going to blare out at me if I forget to turn the volume down. What commands allow you to change that volume, i.e. the one in the sound indicator?

I've poked around in gsettings and dbus, but have been unable to find anything that would let me set the system volume like that. I do know about alsamixer, but that's not the solution I'm looking for, since that doesn't allow me to change the volume using the sound indicator or my laptop's multimedia keys.

Ubuntu refuses to output audio via HDMI

I have my PC hooked up to speakers and a monitor. In addition, it is hooked up to my Vizio 37' LCD Television. When I was on Windows 7, I could choose to output sound via HDMI. I have the choice in Ubuntu but no sound is outputted. Any Ideas? I don't know how to get system specs on Ubuntu so if you need them please tell me how to get them.

aplay -l output:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices **** 
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], 
device 0: ALC887 Analog [ALC887 Analog] 
Subdevices: 0/1 
Subdevice #0: 
subdevice #0 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 3: ALC887 Digital [ALC887 Digital] Subdevices: 1/1 
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 

Beep in shell script not working?

I'd like to use a beep sound in a shell script. Unfortunately none of the methods I found via Google work for me.

I tried

echo -e '\a'

echo -ne '\007'

and the command beep after I installed it via apt.

What could be the reason?

How to record output to speakers?

Is there a program for Ubuntu 12.10 that can record sounds of only the output of the speaker and not any voices from outside the PC?

How to hear my voice in speakers with a mic?

I have a USB microphone that I can chat on Skype, record sound etc. But how can I make it so that when my mic is on and I speak, Ι hear it in speakers live without having to record my voice first and then play it back? What apps do I need or where can I enable this option?

I'm running Ubuntu 10.10

How can I make the volume change in smaller increments?

When I press the volume up/down keys on my keyboard, the volume changes too much. How can I make the step size smaller so that I have finer control?

Play sound through two or more outputs/devices

I think this is a pretty simple concept. I have one sound card and one pair of bluetooth headphones. I want to play my audio through both my sound card and my bluetooth headphones.

I believe Windows has checkboxes allows you to "check" outputs to enable/disable them, but Ubuntu seemingly has the equivalent of radio selectors (you can only select one at a time).

Bonus Question: On a similar note, I have 5 analog output channels on my sound card (in addition to my digital & HDMI audio) -- I would like to be able to determine what comes out of each of those ports (e.g. "front speakers" on all 5 or "front", "center", "back", etc).

Thanks in advance!

How can I disable the "popping" sound when adjusting the volume?

Whenever I adjust the volume there's a popping sound to indicate when the volume is changing. I find it really annoying.

Is there any way to change/disable this behaviour?