arctis-sound-manager 1.1.51

A replacement for SteelSeries GG software, to manage your Arctis device on Linux!

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.

🎚️ ASM Presets — browse and share community EQ presets! 💬 Join the Discord — chat, share presets and get help from the community! 📝 Share your experience in Discussions — feedback helps improve compatibility for everyone! ☕ Buy me a coffee if you find it useful!

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Table of contents

• 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
  • Translations
  • Community stats
  • Uninstall
  • Reporting a bug
    • In-app reporter (recommended)
    • CLI equivalents
    • Tips for a good report
  • Development
  • ©️ Credits
  • 💬 Share your experience

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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
• 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
• 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

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Screenshots

Home — mixer	Sonar EQ

Custom EQ	Settings

Headset status	DAC — OLED display control

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Supported devices

Device	Working	Users	Product ID(s)
Arctis 1 / 7X / 7P Wireless	✅	1	12b3, 12b6, 12d5, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12d7}}$
Arctis 7 / 7 2019 / Pro 2019 / Pro GameDAC	✅	1	1260, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12ad}}$, 1252, 1280
Arctis 7+ / PS5 / Xbox / Destiny	✅	2	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{220e}}$, 2212, 2216, 2236
Arctis 9 Wireless	✅	2	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12c2}}$
Arctis Pro Wireless	✅	3	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{1290}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{1294}}$
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless / X	✅	29	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12e0}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12e5}}$
Arctis Nova Pro Wired / Xbox Wired	✅	4	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12cb}}$, 12cd
Arctis Nova 3	✅	4	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{12ec}}$
Arctis Nova 3P / 3X Wireless	✅	4	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2269}}$, 226d
Arctis Nova 5 / 5X	✅	6	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2232}}$, 2253, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2255}}$
Arctis Nova 7 Gen 1	✅	4	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2202}}$, 2206, 223a, 227a, 22ab, 22a4
Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2	✅	19	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{22a1}}$, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{227e}}$, 2258, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{229e}}$, 22a9, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{22a5}}$
Arctis Nova 7P	✅	5	220a, $\color{royalblue}{\textbf{22a7}}$
Arctis Nova Elite	✅	1	$\color{royalblue}{\textbf{2244}}$, 2249
Arctis GameBuds X	❌	1	$\color{red}{\textbf{2317}}$

✅ Confirmed by at least one opted-in user 🔴 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, open an issue with it so support can be added.

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Installation

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 (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).

Other distros (from source)

Install system deps first:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install pipx libusb-1.0-0 libpulse0 libudev1 swh-plugins noise-suppression-for-voice curl

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

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

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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 (asm-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 asm-gui-tray.service

A asm-gui-tray.service unit is installed by asm-setup. If missing:

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

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Upgrading

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.

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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 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.

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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

1. Open the Sonar EQ tab and select or create a preset.
2. Click the Share button (export icon) next to the preset name.
3. 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

1. Open the Sonar EQ tab.
2. Click Import preset (import icon).
3. 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)

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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.

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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.

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Community stats

Based on 82 unique users (508 anonymous data points) — last updated 2026-06-02

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

Tested distributions

Distribution	Install method	Users
CachyOS	🎯 AUR	👥 41
Arch Linux	🎯 AUR	👥 9
Nobara Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 6
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS	🎯 PPA	👥 3
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS	🎯 PPA	👥 3
Linux Mint 22.3	🎯 PPA	👥 3
Garuda Linux	🎯 AUR	👥 3
Fedora Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 3
Artix Linux	🎯 AUR	👥 3
Manjaro Linux	🎯 AUR	👥 2
PikaOS 4	📦 Source	👥 1
NixOS 26.05 (Yarara)	📦 Source	👥 1
Fedora Linux 44 (Workstation Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 1
Fedora Linux 43 (Workstation Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 1
Fedora Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	🎯 COPR	👥 1
EndeavourOS	🎯 AUR	👥 1

Most used headsets & distros

Headset	Installs
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless	29
Arctis Nova 7 (Gen 2)	19
Arctis Nova 5 Wireless	5
Arctis Nova 7P (Gen 2)	5
Arctis Nova 3	4
Arctis Nova 7 (Gen 1)	4
Arctis Nova Pro Wired	4
Arctis Pro Wireless	3
Arctis 7+	2
Arctis 9 Wireless	2
Arctis 1/7X/7P Wireless	1
Arctis 7/Pro Gaming	1
Arctis GameBuds X	1
Arctis Nova 5X (PID 2255)	1
Arctis Nova Elite	1

Distribution	Installs
CachyOS	41
Arch Linux	9
Nobara Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	6
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS	3
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS	3
Linux Mint 22.3	3
Garuda Linux	3
Fedora Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	3
Artix Linux	3
Manjaro Linux	2
PikaOS 4	1
NixOS 26.05 (Yarara)	1
Fedora Linux 44 (Workstation Edition)	1
Fedora Linux 43 (Workstation Edition)	1
Fedora Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition)	1

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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.

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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

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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

src/arctis_sound_manager/
├── scripts/
│   ├── daemon.py          # asm-daemon: device manager service
│   ├── gui.py             # asm-gui: graphical interface
│   ├── video_router.py    # asm-router: media auto-routing service
│   ├── cli.py             # asm-cli: setup utilities (udev, desktop, tools)
│   └── setup.py           # asm-setup: post-install automation
├── gui/
│   ├── home_page.py            # Audio mixer (Game/Chat/Media/Output cards)
│   ├── headset_page.py         # Device info and live status
│   ├── device_page.py          # General settings (startup toggle, language)
│   ├── equalizer_page.py       # EQ mode toggle (Custom / Sonar) + 10-band sliders
│   ├── sonar_page.py           # Sonar EQ (Game/Chat/Micro tabs, presets, Spatial Audio, Boost)
│   ├── eq_curve_widget.py      # Interactive parametric EQ curve (biquad RBJ)
│   ├── anc_widget.py           # ANC / Transparent mode indicator
│   ├── settings_widget.py      # Per-device settings panel (D-Bus backed)
│   ├── profile_bar.py          # Profile chip bar + SaveProfileDialog
│   ├── help_page.py            # Built-in user manual (EN/FR/ES)
│   ├── presets/                # 334 bundled Sonar presets (312 Game, 8 Chat, 14 Mic)
│   └── theme.py                # Color constants
├── lang/                  # Translation files (.ini, one per language)
├── lang_updater.py        # Background GitHub translation checker
├── i18n.py                # Translation singleton with EN fallback
├── profile_manager.py     # Audio profile: snapshot, save/load/apply
├── sonar_to_pipewire.py   # PipeWire filter-chain config generator
├── oled_renderer.py       # OLED screen image renderer (PIL)
├── oled_manager.py        # OLED scroll/animation loop
└── devices/               # Per-device configuration YAMLs

scripts/
├── install.sh             # Main installer (source installs)
├── distrobox/             # Distrobox installers (Bazzite, SteamOS, Silverblue)
├── setup-surround.sh      # Standalone virtual surround setup
└── pipewire/              # PipeWire config templates

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💬 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.

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License

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

The majority of the source code is original work — Copyright (C) 2026 loteran.

25 files are partially derived from Linux Arctis Manager by Giacomo Furlan (elegos), used under GPL-3.0 — Copyright (C) 2022 Giacomo Furlan (elegos).