We have gotten a request for the output mute action to do the opposite: only mute the current one, not all of them.

Perhaps we need a setting that chooses whether muting input or output devices will mute all of them, or only the default one.

*** Bug 428757 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Was confused about Bug 428757 being marked as the duplicate of this one, but then figured there's a difference after all, and it's a quite silly one:
- The Mute Microphone shortcut still works as described here
- Clicking on the Microphone applet toggles mute for all audio sources

A setting would be definitely welcome, and that should cover the behavior of both toggles instead of them acting a different way.

In progress with https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-pa/-/merge_requests/365

*** Bug 428757 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Git commit ec765fd4081e84b7c7f3ea536afcb0fb1facee4f by Nate Graham, on behalf of Arnav Rawat.
Committed on 06/08/2025 at 22:13.
Pushed by ngraham into branch 'master'.

kded: Apply a global mute to input devices as well

It also makes sense to globally mute input devices for ex. preventing
unwanted transmissions on calls using secondary devices.
FIXED-IN: 6.5.0

M  +17   -7    applet/main.qml
M  +9    -2    src/globalconfig.kcfg
M  +129  -35   src/kded/audioshortcutsservice.cpp
M  +9    -4    src/kded/audioshortcutsservice.h
M  +6    -1    src/qml/globalservice.cpp
M  +2    -1    src/qml/globalservice.h

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-pa/-/commit/ec765fd4081e84b7c7f3ea536afcb0fb1facee4f

Hi all, I understand I'm a bit late to the party on this one but just read about it in Nate's blog. 

I run most of my audio through a lot of virtual devices (this is pretty common). If hitting the mic mute, mutes all of the sources, it's not just going to mute the mics, it's going to mute *everything*. 

I've been relying on this bug/feature to mute my mic during conference calls, without muting the audio that's being shared from applications via virtual devices. This same problem also applies to the speaker mute with virtual sources.

> Perhaps we need a setting that chooses whether muting input or output devices will mute all of them, or only the default one.

Should I file a separate FR for this?

Why would muting all the input sources also mute your virtual devices? That seems wrong. If that is indeed what happens with these changes, it's a bug that should be fixed.

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #8)
> Why would muting all the input sources also mute your virtual devices?

Because the virtual devices are input sources.
(Likewise for the mute icon, the virtual devices that are muted when clicking it, are also output sinks)

> If that is indeed what happens with these changes, it's a bug that should be fixed.

Well, I saw a description of the new feature, that it acts 'like the speaker mute', and I'm not sure how accurate that description was, but the speaker mute definitely has this bug.

Perhaps it would make sense to let the user choose whether they want virtual devices affected by the global mute features.

Regardless, if that was always the behavior for global sink mute, replicating it with global source mute is appropriate, which is why we've done so.

Go ahead and open a ticket about the desired behavior change/option. Make sure to describe the use case in detail so it's clear why the status quo isn't working for you.

Thanks!

> Go ahead and open a ticket about the desired behavior change/option.
Please also link it here, as I'm quiet certain I'm also affected and so are likely others subscribed here.

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #10)
> Perhaps it would make sense to let the user choose whether they want virtual
> devices affected by the global mute features.

This would probably avoid most problems with minimum effort. If a hard-coded thing (no user option) rolled out, hard-coding it to not mute virtual devices would be way safer.

> Regardless, if that was always the behavior for global sink mute,
> replicating it with global source mute is appropriate, which is why we've
> done so.

I'll file a separate issue for it but I can't help but get the feeling I've failed to express to you how severe a mistake it could be, to copy the existing speaker mute bug. That one was bad but has kinda-workarounds, this one will be much harder to avoid. I'm sorely regretting that I didn't mention it to you sooner but I'm trying to give you as much heads-up as I can now.

Created the follow-up bug: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=508170

Cheers see you there!