unable to switch to AirPlay output 'devices'

[arkarkark]

I'm unable to switch to my airplay 'speakers'

$ SwitchAudioSource -a
Built-in Microphone (input)
Built-in Output (output)
$ SwitchAudioSource -t output  -s "Garage"
Could not find an audio device named "Garage" of type output.  Nothing was changed.

[philfreo]

+1

[s00500]

this used to work... +1

[s00500]

But: It still let's you switch if you call -s and the exact name of the device! (use "\ " for spaces) Just switch to your airplay device using syspreferences and run -c and it will also tell you the current device Edit: This strangly works just as long as system prefercenses are open...

[philfreo]

I don't think it has anything to do with System Preferences being open. At first I thought I had it working for a second too, but really what I see now (with macOS Sierra) is:

• SwitchAudioSource -c will report the AirPlay device if it was manually selected in macOS.
• Trying to switch to it (SwitchAudioSource -s "Downstairs Speakers") won't work (Could not find an audio device named "Downstairs Speakers" of type output. Nothing was changed.)
• However if I already have an AirPlay device selected manually, switching away from that device (SwitchAudioSource -s "Built-in Output") actually keeps the AirPlay device selected but then also enables* the second device, at least according to the screenshot below.
• Then it appears that switching to an AirPlay device works (SwitchAudioSource -s "Downstairs Speakers" now yields output audio device set to "Downstairs Speakers") but in reality the AirPlay device was already selected.

• Note that when playing audio with this configuration, it does not come out of both devices. As far as I can tell, there's no other way to achieve this UI state in macOS, so this may be a macOS bug?

Any thoughts @deweller?

[deweller]

I don't use AirPlay speakers, so naturally I haven't encountered this bug.

I'd be happy to review a patch if anyone is able to fix it.

[lfilho]

Also not working for AirPlay devices for me. OSX El Capitan + latest SwitchAudio version from brew (as of today).

[Buadhai]

+1

[bermann]

Any news on this? 😟

[hightechfreak]

Same problem here on High Sierra. Any news? Looks like AirPlay outputs are treated differently. Just to confirm: if my AirPlay receiver has been selected using the menu, I can run -c AirMusic-Box and it confirms, but when I run the same command with any other device selected it claims the device is unknown. Unfortunately I am a newbie to XCode and it has been a while for me to program in C but I will try insert some diagnostic code and find out... Maybe the airport receivers have a different device type than "output"...

[rien333]

Whats more so interesting is that say -a '?' also does not show airplay speakers (at least with my configuration using shairport-sync). Therefore, Apple themselves also seem to have not avoided this problem.

[mloeschner]

Even say --audio-device=? does not find available airplay devices on Mac OS [High] Sierra. One has to connect them manually to become available. Once connected and selected, streaming interactively with say to an airplay speaker doesn't work as expected.

[raptor235]

Same issue here :( can't use this with AIrplay speakers

[fharper]

Same here! This project doesn't seem supported anymore, but is anyone created a patch?

[zuckschwerdt]

As @deweller said, the developers don't use AirPlay. Someone needs to write the code.

[timonvanhasselt]

Not the greatest solution, but a possible workaround with AppleScript. I combined 2 AppleScripts, based on this tutorial: http://apetronix.com/switch-audio-outputs-with-a-keyboard-shortcut-on-os-x/ HDMI and AirSpeaker are stand-ins.

Set the currentAudioSource to (do shell script "/usr/local/Cellar/switchaudio-osx/1.0.0/SwitchAudioSource -c") if currentAudioSource is equal to "HDMI" then tell application "System Events" tell process "SystemUIServer" click (menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 whose description contains "Volume") set Airplay to menu 1 of result click ((menu item 1 where its name starts with "AirSpeaker") of Airplay) end tell end tell else do shell script "/usr/local/Cellar/switchaudio-osx/1.0.0/SwitchAudioSource -s "HDMI"" end if

[samlin39]

+1

[samlin39]

+1 BIG SUR 11.0.1 (20B29)

[Suplanus]

The great workaround from @timonvanhasselt sadly don't work under Big Sur.

[alanhe421]

I don't use AirPlay speakers, so naturally I haven't encountered this bug.

I'd be happy to review a patch if anyone is able to fix it.

I will have a try....

[deweller]

Thanks @alanhg!

[demyxco]

I was originally gonna use switchaudio-osx but then AppleScript can do it natively:

set HomePod to "Bedroom"
tell application "System Events"
	tell application process "ControlCenter"
		set soundMenu to menu bar item "Sound" of menu bar 1
		tell soundMenu to click
		set soundCheckbox to checkbox 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window "Control Center" whose title contains HomePod
		set soundCheckboxValue to value of soundCheckbox
		tell soundCheckbox to click
		tell soundMenu to click
	end tell
end tell

[Suplanus]

Great, thank you @demyxco

Attention: The Window and menu bar items are localized. In German I had to change Sound and Control Center:

set HomePod to "Bedroom"
tell application "System Events"
	tell application process "ControlCenter"
		set soundMenu to menu bar item "Ton" of menu bar 1
		tell soundMenu to click
		set soundCheckbox to checkbox 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window "Kontrollzentrum" whose title contains HomePod
		set soundCheckboxValue to value of soundCheckbox
		tell soundCheckbox to click
		tell soundMenu to click
	end tell
end tell

[demyxco]

Here is another one that uses System Preferences but you only changed the "Bedroom" string:

tell application "System Preferences" 
    reveal anchor "output" of pane id "com.apple.preference.sound" 
end tell 

tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences" 
    tell table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window 1 
        select (row 1 where value of text field 1 is "Bedroom") 
    end tell 
end tell 

quit application "System Preferences" 

[alanhe421]

I found that I didn't have the energy to learn C and how to release the new package, so I decided to use AppleScript and Shell.

it works.

Any user who uses Alfred can download this workflow. Easy to switch to any audio include airplay.

https://github.com/alanhg/alfred-workflows/tree/master/switch-audio

[kbd]

@alanhg is the source for that available?

[alphabt]

I took the script folks here have shared and enhanced it to make it more reliable to wait for the volume menu to open before switching to the airplay speaker.

I also attached it to a hotkey so I can simply press ⌘ + ' to trigger the switch.

set soundOutputName to "Dining Room"

tell application "System Events"
	tell application process "ControlCenter"
		-- Open Sound menu
		set soundMenu to menu bar item "Sound" of menu bar 1
		tell soundMenu to click
		
		-- Select specified output
		repeat until exists checkbox 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window "Control Center" whose title is equal to soundOutputName
		end repeat
		
		set soundCheckbox to checkbox 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window "Control Center" whose title is equal to soundOutputName
		tell soundCheckbox to click
		
		-- Close Sound menu
		tell soundMenu to click
	end tell
end tell

https://github.com/alphabt/macos-automations/tree/master/Set%20Sound%20Output has more detail on how to setup the hotkey using macOS's Automator workflow.

[alanhe421]

@alanhg is the source for that available?

of course

[kbd]

@alanhg is the source for that available?

of course

Where? I only see the alfredworkflow file.

[alanhe421]

@alanhg is the source for that available?

of course

Where? I only see the alfredworkflow file. Sorry, Alfred workflow is an archive file, only works in alfred.

For Apple Script, you can view the readme. I have posted link.

https://gist.github.com/alanhg/21f7fd110e0bdac1d0cce66ca40e78ea

[nvrmindu]

I have similar issue with my SDAC. Figured out, what actual name is "SDAC ", with space, for some reason.