Indicator Sound Switcher running on the Ubuntu desktop
Indicator Sound Switcher is ― no prizes for guessing― a sound input/outputselectorfor the Ubuntu desktop.
Many linux desktop environments, suchasBudgie, giveus an easily accessible way to quickly switch between multiple sound input and output sources.
Ubuntu’s Unity desktop doesn’t ― at rather,not as easily accessible as others.
To switchinput/output on Ubuntu you needto click the Sound indicator, select Preferences, and then configure your audio set-upinSystem Settings before hitting ‘Ok’ to have them appley.
This is a perfectly acceptableway of managing audio devices asfewof us switch sources with any major regularity.
But ‘few’ isn’t ‘no-one’.
If you do regularlyswitch between multiple audio sources on Ubuntu, from your laptop’s built-in speakers to headphones, from a USB headset to built-in microphone and the like, then thesimple Indicator Sound Switcher appletcan really help speed things up.
“It shows an icon in the indicator area in Ubuntu’s Panel. The icon’s menu allows you to switch the current sound input and output (i.e. source ports and sink ports in PulseAudio’s terms, respectively) with just two clicks,” the applet’s developer, Dmitry Kann, writes on the Github project page.
The applet intelligently shows/hidesaudio sourcesbased on their availability. Whenyou don’t have your USB condenser mic plugged in you won’t see it show up as an option in the sound switcher menu.
Which is literally neat!
The latest version of Indicator Sound Switcher applet also supports graphics card profiles, is rewritten inpython 3, and requires PulseAudio 4.0 (if you’re using an up-to-date version of Ubuntu, you already use this).
Install Indicator Sound Switcher on Ubuntu 16.04 LTSThere are a number of ways to install ‘Indicator Sound Switcher’ on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
You can download and compile theapplet manually from source by cloning or grabbing the source code from Github:
Visit Indicator Sound Switcher on Github
Youcan add the indicator’s official PPA to UbuntuSoftware Sources and install it on your desktop by enteringthese commands in a new Terminal window ( Ctrl + Alt + T ):
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:yktooo/ppa sudo apt update && sudo apt install indicator-sound-switcherIf you don’twant to add yet-another PPA you can download a pre-built installer instead:
Download Indicator Sound Switcher 2.0.1 for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS