Linux-Arctis-7-Plus-Chatmix uses the GPL license. While the GPL license does permit commercial use,
it is strongly discouraged to reuse the work herein for any for-profit purpose as it relates to the usage
of a third party proprietary hardware device.
The device itself has not been reverse-engineered for this purpose, nor has the proprietary GG Sonar Software typically required to use it.
The SteelSeries Arctis series of headsets include a hardware modulation knob for 'chatmix' on the headset.
This allows the user to 'mix' the volume of two different devices on their system, named "Game" and "Chat".
On older Arctis models (e.g. Arctis 7), the headset would be detected as two individual hardware devices by the host operating system and would assign them as such accordingly, allowing the user to specify which device to use and where.
Typical use case: "Chat" for voicechat in games and VOIP/comms software, and "Game" for system / music etc.
On the Arctis 7+ model, this two-device differentiation no longer exists, and the host OS will only recognize a single device. If the user wishes to utilize the chatmix modulation knob, they must install the SteelSeries proprietary GG software. This software does not currently support Linux.
This script provides a basic workaround for this problem for Linux users. It creates a Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) pair called "Arctis 7+ Chat" and "Arctis 7+ Game" respectively, which the user can then assign accordingly as they would have done with an older Arctis model. The script listens to the headset's USB dongle signals and interprets them in a way that can be meaningfully converted to adjust the audio when the user moves the dial on the headset.
install-a7pcm.sh installs a daemon which ensures the chatmix dial controls the ChatMix balance on the headset.
Alternatively, use install-AllSound7P_ChatMix.sh installs a different version which will control the ChatMix balance
on any default system device, e.g. speakers etc.
For both versions at startup of the daemon the user must disconnect and reconnect the USB dongle from the machine.
For the AllSound version, ensure the device you wish to output sound to is set as the default device before reconnecting the dongle.
For the Arctis version, the headset will be automatically set to the default device when the daemon starts.
The service itself depends on the PyUSB package.
In order for the VAC to be initialized and for the volumes to be controlled, the system requires Pipewire (and the underlying PulseAudio) which are both fairly common on modern Linux systems out of the box.
Python 3 & PyUSB required.
Run install-a7pcm.sh as your desktop user in the project root directory. You may need to provide your sudo password during installation for copying the udev rule for your device.
DISCONNECT DEVICE BEFORE INSTALLING
To uninstall, set the UNINSTALL environment variable while calling the install script, e.g.,
UNINSTALL= ./install-a7pcm.shRECONNECT DEVICE ONCE INSTALL IS COMPLETE
There may be a short delay before the device becomes available after reconnecting. Use systemctl --user status arctis7pcm.service to check the service
is running properly.
The service first initializes the VAC by making direct calls to PulseWire pw-cli to create nodes and link them to the default audio device.
The service relies on the PyUSB package to read interrupt transfers from the headset's USB dongle.
The headset sends three bytes, the second and third of which are the volume values for the dial's two directions (toward 'Chat' down, toward 'Game' up).
The volumes are processed by the service and passed to the audio system via pactl.
The service will automatically set "Arctis 7+ Game" as the default device on startup.
With great thanks to: