Linux Audio
===========

The Linux audio landscape is quite complex to navigate. You have multiple APIs
that were created over the years. Notably:

- ALSA: this is the lowest level API which the kernel exposes. It is the least
  common denominator so it should be used as a last fallback. It is both the
  kernel framework and a user-space library (libasound). Its low level nature
  makes it difficult to use, for example you can't have multiple applications
  playing at one without a complex dmix setup.

- Jack: this API was made specifically for professionals in audio. It provides
  low latency scheduling for both audio and MIDI data between applications, so
  basically routing inputs to output. It can be used with other APIs like ALSA,
  and it is implemented by Pipewire for backwords compatibility.

- Pulse: this is used to manage the desktop audio. For example, it changes the
  output when you plug in headphones, or lowers the music when a call comes is.
  This is the standard for Linux desktops.

- Pipewire: its goal is to replace and be compatible with other sound systems.
  You should use this now, it is compatible with both JACK and PulseAudio.

- PortAudio: a cross platform audio API

- GStreamer: an advanced multimedia framework, built on top of the other low
  level APIs.

- Open Sound System: legacy Linux sound system, replaced by ALSA.

- SDL3: another cross platform sound API

Useful Commands
---------------

Manage pipewire inputs and outputs with:

.. code-block:: bash

     pavucontrol

Graph-based multimedia management:

.. code-block:: bash

     qpwgraph