Arctis Sound Manager

A Linux GUI for SteelSeries Arctis headsets — device settings, 4-channel audio mixer (Game / Chat / Media / Output), automatic media routing, and a full Sonar EQ system powered by PipeWire filter-chain.

▶ Click to watch the full demo

Supported Arctis headsets on Linux: Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, Arctis Nova Pro Wired, Arctis Nova Pro Omni, Arctis Nova Elite, Arctis Nova 7 (Gen 1 & Gen 2), Arctis Nova 7P, Arctis Nova 5 / 5X, Arctis Nova 3 / 3P / 3X, Arctis 7, Arctis 7+, Arctis 9 Wireless, Arctis Pro Wireless, Arctis 1 / 7X / 7P Wireless, and Arctis GameBuds / GameBuds X — full list with Product IDs in Supported devices.

🎚️ ASM Presets — browse and share community EQ presets! 🎨 ASM Themes — browse and share color themes, previewed on a miniature of the app! 💬 Join the Discord — chat, share presets and get help from the community! 📝 Share your experience in Discussions — feedback helps improve compatibility for everyone!

Features

🎚️ Audio mixer

4-channel mixer — separate Game, Chat, Media and Output virtual sinks
Automatic media routing — browsers and video players (Firefox, VLC, mpv…) are automatically routed to the Media sink
Smart stream adoption — apps running when ASM starts are pulled into Arctis_Media instead of staying on a non-Arctis sink
Manual stream control — move any audio stream between channels via G / C / M / O buttons; choices persist across restarts
Bring audio to headset — one click moves any app that got stuck on the wrong output (HDMI, S/PDIF, another sound card) back to your headset; available on the Home page and in the system tray
True multichannel output — route apps directly to HDMI or external output (5.1 / 7.1 native passthrough)
Volume sliders per channel with live percentage display
Native PipeWire support — detects apps that bypass PulseAudio (mpv, Haruna…)

🎛️ EQ & audio processing

Sonar EQ — full SteelSeries Sonar-style parametric EQ (Game / Chat / Micro channels):
- Interactive EQ curve, up to 10 bands per channel
- 312 Game presets, 8 Chat, 14 Mic — searchable, 9 favorite slots
- Macro sliders: Bass / Voice / Treble (±12 dB)
- Spatial Audio — HeSuVi virtual 7.1 surround with Immersion (0–12 dB) and Distance (reverb) sliders
- Volume Boost — up to +12 dB gain at the end of the filter chain
- Smart Volume — dynamic compressor (Quiet / Balanced / Loud)
- All changes applied live via PipeWire biquad nodes
Custom 10-band EQ — per-band gain (31 Hz – 16 kHz), save/load presets
Audio Profiles — save and restore your complete configuration in one click (EQ mode, presets, macro values, Spatial Audio, volumes); instant switching from the Home page or system tray

🎧 Device control

ANC / Transparent mode — reflects the physical button state in real time
Device status — battery, mic mute, sidetone, and more
DAC OLED display (Arctis Nova Pro Wireless / X):
- Toggle original vs custom display mode
- Brightness, screen timeout, scroll speed
- Choose and reorder elements: Time, Battery, Profile, EQ Preset, Weather
- Per-element font size (7–30 pt) · Built-in weather with °C / °F selector

⚙️ App & system

Self-healing deps — at startup ASM checks every system component (LADSPA plugins, HRIR, PipeWire, wpctl, udev rules…); a one-click dialog installs anything missing with a single pkexec prompt
Check for updates — in-app button forces an immediate GitHub check; installs via terminal (pacman / dnf / apt) or in-app wheel (pipx)
One-click bug reports — auto-uploads a full diagnostic as a GitHub gist and opens a pre-filled issue
Built-in diagnostics — asm-daemon --verify-setup and asm-cli diagnose -o file.txt
Themes — 5 built-in color themes plus a custom theme editor with live preview; share your own on the community site or import one in a click (details)
Community translations — new languages from Crowdin download automatically on startup, no release needed
Help page — built-in manual in English, French and Spanish
ARCTIS_LOG_LEVEL env var — debug / info / warning, honored by daemon, GUI and router

Screenshots

Home — mixer	Sonar EQ

Custom EQ	Settings

Headset status	DAC — OLED display control

Supported devices

Device	Working	Users	Product ID(s)
Arctis 1 / 7X / 7P Wireless	✅	5	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12b3}}$, 12b6, 12d5, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12d7}}$
Arctis 7 / 7 2019 / Pro 2019 / Pro GameDAC	✅	16	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{1260}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12ad}}$, 1252, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{1280}}$
Arctis 7+ / PS5 / Xbox / Destiny	✅	18	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{220e}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2212}}$, 2216, 2236
Arctis 9 Wireless	✅	14	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12c2}}$
Arctis Pro Wireless	✅	27	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{1290}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{1294}}$
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless / X	✅	184	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12e0}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12e5}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{225d}}$
Arctis Nova Pro Wired / Xbox Wired	✅	18	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12cb}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12cd}}$
Arctis Nova Pro Omni	✅	17	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2290}}$
Arctis Nova 3	✅	7	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12ec}}$
Arctis Nova 3P / 3X Wireless	✅	18	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2269}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{226d}}$
Arctis Nova 5 / 5X	✅	45	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2232}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2253}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2255}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2264}}$
Arctis Nova 7 Gen 1	✅	33	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2202}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2206}}$, 223a, 227a, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{22a4}}$
Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2	✅	89	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{22a1}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{227e}}$, 2258, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{229e}}$, 22a9, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{22a5}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{22ab}}$
Arctis Nova 7P	✅	16	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{220a}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{22a7}}$
Arctis Nova Elite	✅	11	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2244}}$, 2249, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2270}}$
Arctis GameBuds / GameBuds X	✅	14	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{230a}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2317}}$

✅ Confirmed by at least one opted-in user 🔵 Product IDs shown in blue are actively in use — detected on real users' devices through the app's anonymous usage stats 🔴 Seen in telemetry but not yet declared in a device YAML — support pending

Find your headset's Product ID (the 4 hex digits after 1038:):

lsusb -d 1038:

If your PID isn't listed above, ASM doesn't recognise your headset yet — here's how to get it added.

My headset isn't recognised — how to add it (create the device YAML)

ASM describes each headset with a small YAML "device profile". Adding a new headset means creating (or extending) one of these. Many "new" headsets are just an existing model with a fresh Product ID (e.g. a new colorway) — in that case adding the single PID is enough.

1. Collect your device's USB details

lsusb -d 1038:                         # your PID = the 4 hex digits after "1038:"
lsusb -v -d 1038:XXXX > lsusb.log      # full interface/endpoint layout (replace XXXX with your PID)
asm-cli diagnose -o asm-diagnose.txt   # ASM's view of the device

2. New variant of a model already in the table?

Open the matching profile in ~/.config/arctis_manager/devices/ (e.g. nova_elite.yaml) and add your PID under product_ids::

product_ids:
  - 0x2244
  - 0x2270   # ← your PID

Then restart the daemon and test:

systemctl --user restart arctis-manager.service

If the device controls respond, it works. If the daemon log shows Failed to find interface, your command interface differs: set command_interface_index: [<interface>, <alt_setting>] to the HID interface from your lsusb -v that carries the 64-byte interrupt endpoint (often [3, 0]).

ℹ️ Edits under ~/.config/arctis_manager/devices/ are perfect for testing, but may be overwritten on update — do step 3 to make support permanent.

3. Open an issue so it ships for everyone

Open an issue and attach lsusb.log + asm-diagnose.txt (and mention whether the quick edit above worked). Brand-new models can need their HID control protocol reverse-engineered from a Windows USB capture, but the lsusb layout is enough to get most variants added in the next release.

Installation

Quick install — any distribution, one command:

curl -fsSL https://loteran.github.io/Arctis-Sound-Manager/install.sh | bash

It detects your distribution, installs the matching native package (pacman repository / COPR / PPA — or a Distrobox container on Bazzite / Silverblue / SteamOS), and runs asm-setup for you. Prefer to read it first? curl … -o asm-install.sh, inspect it, then bash asm-install.sh.

Or install manually for your distribution below. All native packages (AUR / COPR / PPA) pull in every dependency automatically. After installing, run asm-setup once — it configures udev rules, systemd services, PipeWire and downloads the HRIR file.

Arch Linux / CachyOS / Manjaro (signed repository, recommended)

Needs no AUR helper, compiles nothing, and — unlike the AUR — is visible to Discover and GNOME Software, so ASM can be installed and updated from your software centre like any other application.

curl -fsSL https://github.com/loteran/Arctis-Sound-Manager/releases/download/pacman-repo/arctis-sound-manager.key -o /tmp/asm.key
sudo pacman-key --add /tmp/asm.key
sudo pacman-key --lsign-key "$(gpg --show-keys --with-colons /tmp/asm.key | awk -F: '/^fpr/ {print $10; exit}')"

sudo tee -a /etc/pacman.conf <<'EOF'

[arctis-sound-manager]
Server = https://github.com/loteran/Arctis-Sound-Manager/releases/download/pacman-repo
EOF

sudo pacman -Sy arctis-sound-manager
asm-setup

Updates then arrive with sudo pacman -Syu, or through your desktop's update notifier.

For ASM to actually show up in Discover or GNOME Software, those need a PackageKit backend — which most Arch-family installs do not ship by default. On KDE:

sudo pacman -S --needed packagekit packagekit-qt6   # GNOME: packagekit only

Without packagekit-qt6, Discover loads no pacman backend at all and searching for "arctis" returns nothing, however well the repository is configured. The repository also carries python-pulsectl and noise-suppression-for-voice, which are AUR-only on plain Arch; if your distro already provides them (CachyOS does), its own versions keep priority.

Arch Linux / CachyOS / Manjaro (AUR)

paru -S arctis-sound-manager
asm-setup

Fedora / Nobara (COPR)

sudo dnf copr enable loteran/arctis-sound-manager
sudo dnf install arctis-sound-manager
asm-setup

Debian / Ubuntu (PPA)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:loteran/arctis-sound-manager
sudo apt update && sudo apt install arctis-sound-manager
asm-setup

Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) is the currently supported series. Other series may work via the .deb in each GitHub release.

Immutable distros (Bazzite, SteamOS, Silverblue)

ASM runs inside a Distrobox container and is exported transparently to the host. Run the script for your distro directly — no need to clone:

Bazzite (full deps including noise-suppression-for-voice):

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/loteran/Arctis-Sound-Manager/main/scripts/distrobox/bazzite.sh)

SteamOS / Steam Deck:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/loteran/Arctis-Sound-Manager/main/scripts/distrobox/steamos.sh)

udev rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/ are reset on major SteamOS updates — re-run the script after each upgrade.

Fedora Silverblue / Kinoite:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/loteran/Arctis-Sound-Manager/main/scripts/distrobox/silverblue.sh)

Each script is idempotent. Flags: --reinstall (rebuild container), --no-services (skip systemd).

Troubleshooting — text displays as blocks (font rendering issue)

If the ASM interface shows only squares instead of text, your fontconfig cache is likely corrupted. Run inside the Distrobox container:

rm -rf ~/.cache/fontconfig/*
fc-cache -f -v

Then restart ASM. (Thanks to H0DG3 for identifying this fix!)

Troubleshooting — Spatial Audio is silent / audio cuts out inside the container

Inside a Distrobox, ASM's daemon is supposed to talk to your host PipeWire through the sockets the install script forwards (pipewire-0 / pipewire-0-manager) — it must not run a second PipeWire daemon of its own. Two symptoms point at a broken container/host audio split:

A second PipeWire is running in the container. The container should only connect to the host graph, never start its own pipewire.service. Check both sides:
```
# inside the ASM container
systemctl --user is-active pipewire filter-chain
pipewire --version
# on the host (a normal terminal, NOT `distrobox enter`)
pipewire --version
```
If the container and host report different PipeWire versions, the container's filter-chain (which links to the host daemon across the forwarded socket) can be unstable — a client/server version skew. Align the container's pipewire package with the host's, or run ASM natively.
filter-chain keeps crashing on PipeWire 1.6.7. A shutdown race in filter-chain 1.6.7 can SIGSEGV when the service is restarted while audio is flowing (which ASM does on EQ/Spatial changes), killing the surround sink. If coredumpctl list pipewire shows repeated crashes tied to toggling Spatial Audio, this is the cause; a PipeWire update on the side that runs filter-chain resolves it.

NixOS (flakes or classic)

ASM ships a first-class NixOS module (nix/module.nix) that wires up udev rules, systemd user services, PipeWire filter-chain, and all LADSPA plugins automatically. The module replaces asm-setup, so you normally don't need to run it — but since v1.1.68 it is safe to do so (the crash on the missing update-desktop-database tool has been removed), which is useful for the HRIR repair described below.

Flake-based config — add to your flake.nix:

inputs.arctis-sound-manager = {
  url = "github:loteran/Arctis-Sound-Manager?dir=nix";
  inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
};

Then in your nixosSystem modules:

inputs.arctis-sound-manager.nixosModules.default

{
  services.pipewire = { enable = true; alsa.enable = true; pulse.enable = true; };
  services.arctis-sound-manager.enable = true;
}

Classic config (flakes disabled):

git clone https://github.com/loteran/Arctis-Sound-Manager.git /etc/nixos/Arctis-Sound-Manager

In /etc/nixos/configuration.nix:

imports = [ /etc/nixos/Arctis-Sound-Manager/nix/module.nix ];
services.pipewire = { enable = true; alsa.enable = true; pulse.enable = true; };
services.arctis-sound-manager.enable = true;

Then rebuild and replug the headset once so udev applies the new rules:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

⚠️ Spatial Audio first run — required for Game & Media audio: open ASM → Settings → Spatial Audio and pick any HRIR profile. This copies the selected WAV to ~/.local/share/pipewire/hrir_hesuvi/hrir.wav (profiles are bundled, no download needed). Without this step, the Game and Media channels are silent — the filter-chain convolver fails to load and only the Chat channel (which has no convolver) produces audio.

Stub HRIR file (installs older than v1.1.68): the HRIR file shipped in the Nix store is a read-only 3.6 KB stub (epoch timestamp) that leaves Game and Media silent. Since v1.1.68, asm-setup detects undersized HRIR files and replaces them automatically. On an older install, repair it manually:
rm ~/.local/share/pipewire/hrir_hesuvi/hrir.wav && asm-setup

KDE audio popup: the small "Audio Volume" widget in the KDE taskbar only shows physical hardware sinks. The ASM virtual channels (Arctis_Game / Arctis_Chat / Arctis_Media) appear in pavucontrol → Playback tab or in KDE System Settings → Audio → Applications. Use those to route each app to the right channel.

Full module docs and options: nix/README.md.

Other distros (from source)

Install system deps first:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install pipx libusb-1.0-0 libpulse0 libudev1 swh-plugins curl
# noise-suppression-for-voice (rnnoise LADSPA) is not packaged for Debian/Ubuntu —
# ASM builds it from source automatically when you enable ClearCast mic suppression.

# Fedora / Nobara
sudo dnf install pipx libusb1 pulseaudio-libs systemd-libs ladspa-swh-plugins curl
sudo dnf copr enable lkiesow/noise-suppression-for-voice
sudo dnf install ladspa-realtime-noise-suppression-plugin

Then install ASM:

git clone --branch main https://github.com/loteran/Arctis-Sound-Manager.git
cd Arctis-Sound-Manager
bash scripts/install.sh

PATH tip: if asm-cli or asm-daemon are not found after install, run: echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc

USB permissions: if the headset isn't detected, ASM shows a one-click Install rules dialog at startup. Manual fallback: sudo asm-cli udev write-rules --force --reload

First launch

After asm-setup completes, launch the GUI with:

asm-gui

Or find Arctis Sound Manager in your application launcher (KDE, GNOME, etc.).

The daemon (arctis-manager.service) starts automatically at login — the GUI is separate and must be opened manually the first time.

System tray mode

asm-gui --systray

Starts minimised to the system tray. From there you can switch Audio Profiles, open the full window, or quit. This is the recommended mode for daily use.

Autostart at login

The easiest way is the in-app toggle: Settings → General → Start with system — ASM handles the correct setup for your desktop environment automatically.

If the toggle doesn't work for your DE, use the manual method:

KDE Plasma / GNOME (systemd user session)

systemctl --user enable --now arctis-gui.service

An arctis-gui.service unit is installed by asm-setup. If missing:

asm-cli desktop write
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now arctis-gui.service

Hyprland / Sway / other wlroots compositors

Add to ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf (or your compositor's startup config):

exec-once = asm-gui --systray

i3 / bspwm / other X11 WMs

Add to your WM startup file (~/.config/i3/config, ~/.xinitrc, etc.):

asm-gui --systray &

Or create an XDG autostart entry:

asm-cli desktop write   # writes ~/.config/autostart/arctis-sound-manager.desktop

Upgrading

⚠️ Upgrading to 1.2.1 on Arch — remove, then reinstall

Up to 1.2.0, the Arch package shipped its own copies of dbus-next and pulsectl inside site-packages. From 1.2.1 they are proper dependencies (python-dbus-next, python-pulsectl), so pacman refuses to install those packages over the files the old version still owns, and the upgrade aborts:
error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
python-dbus-next: /usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/dbus_next/... exists in filesystem
Remove the old package first — it takes its bundled copies with it — then install:
paru -R arctis-sound-manager
paru -S arctis-sound-manager
Your audio profiles in ~/.config/arctis_manager/profiles/ are preserved, and asm-setup runs again on install. Fresh installs are unaffected, and later upgrades work normally.

Do not reach for pacman --overwrite here: it leaves the files owned by both packages, and the ASM upgrade then deletes them on its way out — gutting python-dbus-next and python-pulsectl. If you already did, repair them with sudo pacman -S python-dbus-next python-pulsectl.

Arch / CachyOS / Manjaro

paru -Syu arctis-sound-manager && asm-setup

Fedora (COPR)

sudo dnf upgrade arctis-sound-manager && asm-setup

Debian / Ubuntu (PPA)

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade arctis-sound-manager && asm-setup

From source

cd Arctis-Sound-Manager && git pull
pipx install --force .
asm-cli desktop write
asm-cli udev write-rules --force --reload
systemctl --user daemon-reload && systemctl --user restart arctis-manager.service

pipx upgrade may fail on wheel installs — use pipx install --force . instead.

How the mixer works

ASM creates 3 virtual sinks on top of your Arctis device plus one external output:

Sink	Default use	Button
Arctis_Game	Games, general audio	G
Arctis_Chat	Voice apps (Discord, TeamSpeak…)	C
Arctis_Media	Browsers, video players	M
External Output	HDMI, USB speakers, sound card… (5.1 / 7.1 native)	O

The media router (asm-router) automatically moves browsers and video players to Arctis_Media. Manual placements via G / C / M / O buttons are saved as persistent overrides.

The stream guard (asm-stream-guard) decides which of these channels a screen share is allowed to carry. Discord's Linux client offers no source picker: it creates its own capture node and links every playback stream into it, continuously, so the whole system's audio goes out to the call. Pick the allowed channels in the bar at the top of the Sonar page — Game only, by default — and the guard cuts everything else as PipeWire announces it. Sources are matched by the channel they play on, so moving an app with the G / C / M buttons is all it takes to include or exclude it.

The External Output card routes audio directly to the physical sink, bypassing virtual stereo sinks — this preserves true 5.1 / 7.1 passthrough. Configure it in Settings → Audio → External Output Device.

Sharing and downloading EQ presets

ASM lets you share any Sonar EQ preset with one click and import presets shared by the community.

Exporting a preset

Open the Sonar EQ tab and select or create a preset.
Click the Share button (export icon) next to the preset name.
Choose how to share:
- Copy link — copies an arctis-asm://import?data=… deep link to your clipboard.
- Save as file — saves a .json file you can send directly.
- Publish to community — opens a browser form pre-filled with your preset data; sign in with GitHub and submit.

Importing a preset

Open the Sonar EQ tab.
Click Import preset (import icon).
Paste one of the supported link formats, then click Import:
- ASM deep link — arctis-asm://import?data=… (generated by ASM's Share button)
- SteelSeries community link — https://www.steelseries.com/deeplink/gg/sonar/config/v1/import?url=… (links from the SteelSeries community or GG software)

ASM automatically detects the link format, downloads the preset if needed, and saves it locally.

You can also double-click an arctis-asm:// link in a browser if you registered the URL handler with asm-setup.

Community site — ASM Presets

loteran.github.io/asm-presets — browse, vote for, and download EQ presets shared by the community.

Action	How
Browse presets	Open the site — no login required
Filter by channel / device	Use the search bar and dropdowns
Import a preset into ASM	Click Import in ASM on any card
Vote for a preset	Click the ♡ button (requires GitHub login)
Publish a preset	Click Share a Preset, sign in with GitHub, fill in the form
Delete your preset	Click 🗑 on your own preset card (only visible when logged in)

Virtual surround 7.1

Virtual 7.1 surround is included automatically with the install — it deploys a PipeWire HeSuVi filter-chain and downloads the HRIR file. 57 HRIR profiles are bundled and selectable from the Settings tab with instant apply.

                  ┌──────────────────────────┐
 7.1 audio source │  Virtual Surround Sink   │
 (game, movie…) ──►  (PipeWire filter-chain) ├──► Headset (stereo)
                  └──────────────────────────┘

Also available as a standalone repo: arctis-virtual-surround — install virtual surround independently with a single bash install.sh.

Manual setup (alternative)

bash scripts/setup-surround.sh

This installs the filter-chain config in ~/.config/pipewire/filter-chain.conf.d/, downloads the HRIR file, and enables the filter-chain systemd user service.

Advanced: replace ~/.local/share/pipewire/hrir_hesuvi/hrir.wav with any 14-channel HeSuVi-compatible WAV and restart filter-chain manually.

Themes

ASM ships 5 built-in color themes: SteelSeries (default), Aurora Glass, Neon Pulse, Slate Premium and Arctic. Switch themes from the dropdown in Settings → Interface Theme — the change applies live to every page, dialog and the tray menu, no restart needed.

Custom themes

Click Create theme in Settings to open the theme editor:

15 color pickers grouped into Backgrounds, Accents, Text and Audio channels
Live preview — the whole app restyles as you pick colors
Start from scratch or duplicate any existing theme via Duplicate from

User themes are saved as .ini files in ~/.config/arctis-sound-manager/themes/.

Sharing and downloading themes

Themes are shared exactly like EQ presets, from Settings → Export theme (or the Share button in the theme editor):

Copy link — copies an arctis-asm://import-theme?data=… deep link to your clipboard.
Save as file — saves an .ini file you can send directly.
Publish to community — opens a browser form pre-filled with your theme; sign in with GitHub and submit.

Import theme accepts either form: paste a deep link, load an .ini file, or browse the community site.

Community site — ASM Themes

loteran.github.io/asm-presets — the same site as the EQ presets, under the Themes tab: browse, vote for, and import themes shared by the community.

Every theme is shown as a miniature of ASM's home page painted in its colors — the sidebar, the four channel cards and their volume sliders — so you can see how a theme actually looks before importing it, not just its palette.

Action	How
Browse themes	Open the site, Themes tab — no login required
Import a theme into ASM	Click Import in ASM on any card
Vote for a theme	Click the ♡ button (requires GitHub login)
Publish a theme	Use Publish to community from ASM, or Share a Theme on the site
Delete your theme	Click 🗑 on your own theme card (only visible when logged in)

Built-in themes cannot be edited or deleted — duplicate one into a custom theme instead.

Translations

ASM supports community translations via Crowdin. No release is needed — the app checks GitHub on every startup and silently downloads any updated .ini files.

Language	Status
English	Source (always complete)
Français	Bundled
Español	Bundled
Your language?	Contribute on Crowdin ↗

How it works:

Every day at 06:00 UTC, a GitHub Action pulls approved translations from Crowdin and opens a PR
On each startup, ASM fetches updated files and saves them to ~/.config/arctis_manager/lang/
The language selector in Settings updates immediately — no restart needed
Languages below 80% coverage fall back string-by-string to English

To request a new language, open a GitHub issue. See CONTRIBUTING.md for full details.

Community stats

Based on 547 unique users (60690 anonymous data points) — last updated 2026-08-04

Anonymous usage data shared voluntarily by opted-in users. View interactive dashboard →

Tested distributions

Distribution	Install method	Users
CachyOS	🎯 AUR	👥 222
Arch Linux	🎯 AUR	👥 105
Linux Mint 22.3	🎯 PPA	👥 32
Fedora Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 29
Nobara Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 26
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS	🎯 PPA	👥 24
Nobara Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 14
Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS	🎯 PPA	👥 13
Fedora Linux 44 (Workstation Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 13
EndeavourOS	🎯 AUR	👥 10
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS	🎯 PPA	👥 9
Garuda Linux	🎯 AUR	👥 7
Manjaro Linux	🎯 AUR	👥 6
Bazzite	📦 Source	👥 4
SteamOS	📦 Source	👥 3
NixOS 26.11 (Zokor)	📦 Source	👥 3
NixOS 26.05 (Yarara)	📦 Source	👥 3
Fedora Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 3
Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)	🎯 PPA	👥 3
Artix Linux	🎯 AUR	👥 3
PikaOS 4	📦 Source	👥 2
Fedora Linux 44 (Forty Four)	🎯 COPR	👥 2
Fedora Linux 43 (Workstation Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 2
Zorin OS 18.1	🎯 PPA	👥 1
Ubuntu 25.10	🎯 PPA	👥 1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP2	📦 Source	👥 1
Russian Nuclear Submarine Ballast Management Controller BMC (OpenBMC Project Reference Distro) 2.8.2-34	📦 Source	👥 1
OpenMandriva Lx 26.02 (ROME) Rolling	📦 Source	👥 1
Nyarch Linux	🎯 AUR	👥 1
Linux Mint 22.1	🎯 PPA	👥 1

Most used headsets & distros

Headset	Installs
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless	184
Arctis Nova 7 (Gen 2)	89
Arctis Nova 5 Wireless	45
Arctis Nova 7 (Gen 1)	33
Arctis Pro Wireless	27
Arctis Nova 3	21
Arctis Nova Pro Wired	18
Arctis 7+	18
Arctis Nova Pro Omni	17
Arctis 7/Pro Gaming	16
Arctis 9 Wireless	14
Arctis GameBuds	14
Arctis Nova 7P (Gen 2)	13
Arctis Nova Elite	11
Arctis 1/7X/7P Wireless	5
Arctis Nova 3 Wireless	4
Arctis Nova 7P (Gen 1)	3

Distribution	Installs
CachyOS	222
Arch Linux	105
Linux Mint 22.3	32
Fedora Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	29
Nobara Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	26
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS	24
Nobara Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	14
Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS	13
Fedora Linux 44 (Workstation Edition)	13
EndeavourOS	10
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS	9
Garuda Linux	7
Manjaro Linux	6
Bazzite	4
SteamOS	3

Uninstall

Native packages ship a cleanup hook — paru -R / dnf remove / apt remove removes PipeWire configs and restarts pipewire automatically. Audio profiles in ~/.config/arctis_manager/profiles/ are preserved by default.

paru -R arctis-sound-manager        # Arch / CachyOS / Manjaro
sudo dnf remove arctis-sound-manager  # Fedora
sudo apt remove arctis-sound-manager  # Debian / Ubuntu

For source/pipx installs or a full wipe, use the standalone uninstaller:

bash scripts/uninstall.sh           # interactive, auto-detects install method
# or without cloning:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/loteran/Arctis-Sound-Manager/main/scripts/uninstall.sh | bash

Uninstall flags

--pipx          # only the pipx install
--pkg           # only the distro package
--all           # both (for duplicate installs)
--all --purge   # also wipe PipeWire configs, HRIR, systemd units, udev rules
--yes           # non-interactive

--purge still preserves ~/.config/arctis_manager/profiles/. A final prompt offers to delete them too for a true clean slate.

Troubleshooting

Safe mode (EQ auto-disabled after a crash)

ASM has a safety net for the PipeWire audio filter-chain. If that service crashes in a loop (a known issue with very large HeSuVi 7.1 graphs on some builds, e.g. SteamOS), instead of leaving you with audio that cuts in and out, ASM disables the EQ configs and keeps a stable, flat audio path — this is safe mode. While it's active, the Sonar EQ and the virtual 7.1 surround are turned off.

When safe mode is on, a banner appears at the top of the Sonar page:

Click Re-enable EQ to clear it: ASM restores the EQ configs and restarts the filter-chain. If the graph genuinely still crashes, safe mode re-arms automatically, so you can't get stuck in a crash loop.
You usually won't need the button: ASM auto-clears safe mode on its own after an ASM or PipeWire version change (the most common way the underlying crash gets fixed), then re-tests the audio graph.

The safe-mode state (and the disabled configs) also show up in the in-app bug report, under Filter-chain safe mode & config presence.

An app has no sound / plays on the wrong device

Sometimes an application ends up playing to the wrong output — a TV over HDMI, an S/PDIF port, or another sound card — instead of your headset, so you hear nothing. This happens when PipeWire/WirePlumber remembers an old output for that app.

Click Bring audio to headset to fix it in one click. It finds every app currently playing on a non-Arctis device and moves it back to your default Arctis sink; apps already on a Game / Chat / Media channel are left untouched. It is available in two places:

The button on the Home page, next to the volume-sliders toggle.
The system tray menu → Bring audio to headset (a notification reports how many apps were moved).

It is safe to click at any time — if nothing is misrouted, it does nothing.

Reporting a bug

In-app reporter (recommended)

Open ASM → Help page → Report a Bug. The dialog collects a full diagnostic (version, libs, distro, PipeWire state, USB devices, udev rules, last 100 log lines) and either:

Submits automatically via gh CLI — uploads as a secret gist and opens a pre-filled issue
Opens GitHub manually — saves the report to ~/.cache/arctis-sound-manager/reports/ for drag-and-drop

CLI equivalents

asm-daemon --verify-setup           # preflight checks, exits 0/1 with per-distro install hints
asm-cli diagnose -o /tmp/asm.txt    # full local diagnostic dump

ARCTIS_LOG_LEVEL=debug systemctl --user restart arctis-manager
journalctl --user -u arctis-manager -f

Tips for a good report

Describe expected vs actual behaviour — "Game channel silent after switching to Sonar EQ" beats "audio broken"
Include steps to reproduce
One issue per report

→ Open a new issue

Development

python src/arctis_sound_manager/scripts/daemon.py          # daemon
python src/arctis_sound_manager/scripts/gui.py --no-enforce-systemd  # GUI
python src/arctis_sound_manager/scripts/video_router.py    # media router

Project structure

Show project structure

src/arctis_sound_manager/
│
├── scripts/                       # Entry points (installed as CLI commands)
│   ├── daemon.py                  # asm-daemon  — device manager service
│   ├── gui.py                     # asm-gui     — graphical interface
│   ├── video_router.py            # asm-router  — automatic media routing
│   ├── stream_guard.py            # asm-stream-guard — screen-share audio filter
│   ├── cli.py                     # asm-cli     — udev / desktop / diagnose tools
│   └── setup.py                   # asm-setup   — post-install automation
│
├── gui/                           # PySide6 user interface
│   ├── main_app.py                # Main window + sidebar navigation
│   ├── home_page.py               # Audio mixer (Game / Chat / Media / Output cards)
│   ├── sonar_page.py              # Sonar EQ — presets, Spatial Audio, macro sliders
│   ├── equalizer_page.py          # Custom EQ mode toggle + 10-band sliders
│   ├── headset_page.py            # Device info and live status (battery, mic, ANC)
│   ├── device_page.py             # App settings (language, startup, update check)
│   ├── dac_page.py                # GameDAC OLED control (clock, weather, brightness)
│   ├── help_page.py               # Built-in user manual (EN / FR / ES)
│   ├── theme.py                   # Theme engine — built-in + user themes, QSS
│   ├── theme_editor_page.py       # Custom theme editor with live preview
│   ├── eq_curve_widget.py         # Interactive parametric EQ curve (biquad RBJ)
│   ├── sonar_toggle_widget.py     # Sonar ↔ custom EQ toggle + spatial audio switch
│   ├── anc_widget.py              # ANC / Transparent mode control
│   ├── profile_bar.py             # Audio profile quick-switch bar
│   ├── systray_app.py             # System tray icon + single-instance IPC
│   ├── tray_eq_presets.py         # Tray menu EQ preset switcher
│   ├── status_widget.py           # Headset status widget (battery, mic, sidetone)
│   ├── settings_widget.py         # Settings panel (theme, language, paths)
│   ├── preset_import_dialog.py    # Preset import (ASM link / SteelSeries link / file)
│   ├── preset_export_dialog.py    # Preset export (copy link / save file / publish)
│   ├── preset_share.py            # Preset sharing helpers (deep link encode/decode)
│   ├── report_dialog.py           # One-click bug report (gist + GitHub issue)
│   ├── system_deps_dialog.py      # Self-healing deps check dialog
│   ├── install_dialogs.py         # Package install confirmation dialogs
│   ├── udev_dialog.py             # udev rules install / reload dialog
│   ├── first_run_dialog.py        # First-run wizard (udev, services, HRIR)
│   ├── telemetry_dialog.py        # Anonymous telemetry opt-in dialog
│   ├── dbus_wrapper.py            # Synchronous D-Bus client (daemon ↔ GUI bridge)
│   ├── components.py              # Reusable UI components (cards, sliders, buttons)
│   ├── ui_utils.py                # UI helpers (DPI scaling, icon loading)
│   ├── base_app.py                # Shared QApplication base
│   ├── main_app_proto_widget.py   # Prototype widget base for pages
│   └── presets/                   # Bundled Sonar presets (Game / Chat / Mic)
│
├── core.py                        # CoreEngine — USB lifecycle, polling, device init
├── config.py                      # Device YAML parsing + settings definitions
├── constants.py                   # XDG-compliant path constants (config, data, lang)
├── device_state.py                # Shared physical-node names for audio routing
├── dbus_service.py                # D-Bus interfaces (Settings / Status / Config)
├── loopback_manager.py            # Dynamic pw-loopback sinks (Arctis_Game/Chat/Media)
├── sonar_to_pipewire.py           # PipeWire filter-chain (EQ) config generator
├── pw_utils.py                    # Native PipeWire stream management + routing overrides
├── pactl.py                       # PulseAudio / PipeWire sink and stream helpers
├── service_control.py             # Single entry point for systemctl / dinitctl
├── profile_manager.py             # Audio profiles — snapshot, save, load, apply
├── settings.py                    # Persistent settings (JSON, XDG-compliant)
├── preset_sync.py                 # EQ preset sync (cloud ↔ local)
├── eq_types.py                    # EQ band data types (EqBand, BandType…)
├── oled_renderer.py               # OLED image renderer (PIL)
├── oled_protocol.py               # OLED HID framing (per-device interface / report id)
├── oled_manager.py                # OLED scroll / animation loop + weather clock
├── weather_service.py             # Weather fetch for the OLED (Open-Meteo)
├── hrir_catalog.py                # HRIR profile catalog (57 bundled profiles)
├── bug_reporter.py                # Diagnostic collector for bug reports
├── diagnose.py                    # asm-cli diagnose — full system diagnostic dump
├── system_deps_checker.py         # Startup self-healing dependency checker
├── udev_rules.py                  # udev rule generation (SteelSeries USB rules)
├── udev_checker.py                # udev rule presence / content verifier
├── update_checker.py              # GitHub release update checker
├── lang_updater.py                # Online translation updater (GitHub → ~/.config)
├── telemetry.py                   # Anonymous opt-in usage telemetry
├── autostart.py                   # Autostart management (systemd / XDG / DE-specific)
├── init_system.py                 # Init system detection (systemd vs dinit)
├── systemd.py                     # systemd user unit helpers
├── status_parser_fn.py            # USB HID status frame parser (battery, mic, ANC…)
├── usb_devices_monitor.py         # USB hotplug monitor (pyudev)
├── cli_tools.py                   # Shared CLI utilities
├── log_setup.py                   # Logging configuration (ARCTIS_LOG_LEVEL)
├── i18n.py                        # Translation singleton with EN fallback
├── utils.py                       # Misc helpers
├── lang/                          # Bundled translation files (.ini, one per language)
└── devices/                       # Per-device configuration YAMLs

scripts/
├── install.sh                     # Source installer
├── uninstall.sh                   # Interactive uninstaller (pipx / pkg / all)
├── setup-surround.sh              # Standalone virtual surround setup
├── distrobox/                     # Distrobox scripts (Bazzite, SteamOS, Silverblue)
├── pipewire/                      # PipeWire config templates
└── reverse-engineering/           # USB capture + opcode-decode helpers (new devices)

nix/                               # NixOS module
├── module.nix                     # NixOS module (udev, systemd, filter-chain, LADSPA)
├── package.nix                    # Nix derivation
└── README.md                      # NixOS-specific documentation

💬 Share your experience

Tried ASM on your headset or distro? Found a bug or have a feature idea?

Join GitHub Discussions →

Your feedback helps improve compatibility for everyone — especially for headsets not yet confirmed working.

Contributors

Thanks to everyone who has contributed code, fixes, or community support:

Contributor	Contribution
Michsior14	Fix Arctis 7+ power status recognition (#67)
H0DG3	Identified the fontconfig cache fix for font rendering on Bazzite/Distrobox
cookiekiller	Diagnosed the loopback watchdog orphan-recreation bug (#84); detailed analysis and fix suggestions for per-channel EQ coupling, Discord routing override, and weather log spam (#85)

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 1,954 Commits
.copr		.copr
.github		.github
.vscode		.vscode
aur		aur
cloudflare		cloudflare
debian		debian
dinit		dinit
docs		docs
hrir		hrir
nix		nix
scripts		scripts
src/arctis_sound_manager		src/arctis_sound_manager
systemd		systemd
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
.python-version		.python-version
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
SESSION.md		SESSION.md
arctis-sound-manager.spec		arctis-sound-manager.spec
crowdin.yml		crowdin.yml
presets_manifest.json		presets_manifest.json
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml
uv.lock		uv.lock

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Arctis Sound Manager

Table of contents

Features

🎚️ Audio mixer

🎛️ EQ & audio processing

🎧 Device control

⚙️ App & system

Screenshots

Supported devices

Installation

First launch

System tray mode

Autostart at login

Upgrading

How the mixer works

Sharing and downloading EQ presets

Exporting a preset

Importing a preset

Community site — ASM Presets

Virtual surround 7.1

Themes

Custom themes

Sharing and downloading themes

Community site — ASM Themes

Translations

Community stats

Uninstall

Troubleshooting

Safe mode (EQ auto-disabled after a crash)

An app has no sound / plays on the wrong device

Reporting a bug

In-app reporter (recommended)

CLI equivalents

Tips for a good report

Development

Project structure

💬 Share your experience

Contributors

License

About

Topics

Resources

Contributing

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages

Used by

Contributors

Languages