I have implemented the start of an artsshell utility. It currently
supports suspending the sound server and displaying status information:
 
% artsshell -h
usage: artsshell [options] <command> [command-options]
 
Options:
  -q   - suppress all output
  -h   - display command usage
 
Commands:
  suspend     - suspend sound server
  status      - display sound server status information
 
% artsshell status
server status: running, will suspend in 58 s
real-time status: real-time
minimum stream buffer time: 92.8798 ms
server buffer time: 92.8798 ms
 
% artsshell suspend
sound server suspended