Changing audio output from 3.5mm Headphone to USB Headset, using RetroPie Menus <tag>audio</tag>

[dominoman2]

Pi Model: Raspberry Pi 3 B+
RetroPie Version: 4.8.2, System: rpi3 (armv71)
Built From Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website
USB Devices Connected: Logitech F310 Gamepad, Keyboard, Logitech ClearChat Headset

My regular configuration for audio output is through the 3.5mm jack to speakers. On occasion, I would like to connect and use USB Headphones / Headset, such as my Logitech ClearChat Headset, and turn off the 3.5mm jack / speakers. When not using the USB headset, it will be disconnected from the USB port.

I have been able to make the change by editing the .asoundrc file, and changing the card number appropriately in the defaults. However, I cannot seem to find a way to do this through any of the cryptic menus related to audio on RetroPie. I'd think there would be a way to add a menu item called something like "Headset." I don't want to have to go in and edit config files every time I want to connect and use the USB headset.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

aplay -l    :
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: b1 [bcm2835 HDMI 1], device 0: bcm2835 HDMI 1 [bcm2835 HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 4/4
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
card 1: Headphones [bcm2835 Headphones], device 0: bcm2835 Headphones [bcm2835 Headphones]
  Subdevices: 4/4
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
card 2: Headset [Logitech USB Headset], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

---

.asoundrc (for 3.5mm Headphones)

pcm.!default {
  type asym
  playback.pcm {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "output"
  }
}

pcm.output {
  type hw
  card 1
}

ctl.!default {
  type hw
  card 1
}

[mitu]

The audio menu in RetroPie is meant to work for the on-board audio on the Pi, it doesn't deal with external sound cards.
What you can do is have 2 .asoundrc files and switch between them with a script.

• Create a Headset.sh file in $HOME/RetroPie/retropiemenu with the contents:

 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 cp $HOME/.asoundrc_headset $HOME/.asoundrc

• Create a Headphones file in the same folder with the contents

 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 cp $HOME/.asoundrc_headphones $HOME/.asoundrc

• Restart EmulationStation and you should have 2 new entries in the RetroPie system, which you can use to switch between the 2 audio outputs.

[dominoman2]

@mitu Thank you for the help. That worked fine. When I run the scripts I have to restart EmulationStation for the sound output changes to take effect. Is there any way around that? If not, it's no big deal considering I won't be using the scripts very often.

[mitu]

@dominoman2 said in Changing audio output from 3.5mm Headphone to USB Headset, using RetroPie Menus <tag>audio</tag>:

When I run the scripts I have to restart EmulationStation for the sound output changes to take effect

I guess that for EmulationStation to pick up the changes you need to modify the audio settings for the sound to be re-initialized, but for emulators it shouldn't be a problem.