I'm also currently using pulseaudio.

(09-02-2021, 01:06 PM)vain Wrote: pulsemixer is the frontend that I use

Similarly, I use pulsemixer, it's simple and neat.

I got paprefs installed in case I want to set simultaneous output, when I have multiple headsets connected like when watching a movie with friends each can have their own audio without bothering the rest of the house. I use the GUI instead of loading the module manually - It's just so much easier.

One thing I'm testing is having different virtual sinks for different cases: voip, media, notification.
So far, I have these in my default.pa
alsa_output.usb-C-Media_Electronics_Inc._Microsoft_LifeChat_LX-3000-00.iec958-stereo is the name of my headset (hardware sink).

NB: The module-x11-bell can't be rerouted using pulseaudio restoration database so you have to specify the sink at module load time.
Other than that this gives me 3 virtual sinks called "voip", "notification", and "media". Then I need pulseaudio to remember the routing of streams. It does that automatically normally when you manually move streams (according to different criteria) and saves it in the restoration database.
So far I haven't found any user-interface that allows editing it easily, so I started writing one today.