u/Infected_Knight

This post is about showcasing 0.4.0 as 0.5.0 is a naming conflict resolution release (thanks to Pallaswept on GitHub for giving me a heads up on it), which took me awhile and AUR being down kind of helped. Its all in the release notes. The app offers a-lot but in this post I am highlighting only the new added page- Signal Paths

Quick context if you haven't run into the project: PipeWire Controller is a GTK4/libadwaita app for managing your pipewire/audio setup. it includes audio management, signal paths, virtual devices, live patchbay, parametric equalizer, performance monitoring, filter chains, microphone cleanup/effects (echo/noise), HRIR virtual surround, routing snapshots, per-app policies, LADSPA/LV2 effect inserts and more.

Version 0.4.0 adds a new page called Signal Paths- The idea is simple. A **source** is where sound comes in — one app, a microphone, or everything on your default output — and it carries its own chain of processing. A **mix** carries a chain of its own and feeds real devices. Sources on the left, mixes on the right, and the sends between them drawn as curves so you can see what's going where

1 Source and 1 Mix

One source and one mix is just a straight line, which is what most setups are.The second column only earns its place once a chain has to split — say one source corrected four different ways for four different pieces of hardware, without building it four times.

2 Sources and 4 Mixes

**You don't have to build it from scratch.** An empty board *is* a template catalog — four complete paths that build both halves in one click, then 26 ready-made strips going from a plain speaker mix at the top to the stuff people actually run for broadcast at the bottom. Bass boost, a loudness curve for quiet listening, crossfeed for headphones, a turntable chain, the gate → tone → compressor → limiter voice chain, a mastering bus. Each card draws the chain it's about to build, and if a template wants a plugin you don't have it says so and leaves it out instead of handing you a strip that won't start.

Create new Signal Path - Overview Screen

Template Browser (Color coded to sources/mixes)

Per card - add effects, plugins, convolver files and drag them in any order

Per Card

**One process per chain, not one per plugin.** Every stage in a strip gets compiled into a single filter graph. Twenty effects is one entry in your device list and one buffer hop, instead of twenty of each. If you've ever wired this up by hand you know it goes the other way and you end up eating twenty quanta of latency for it.

The screenshot below shows 6 sources, 5 mixes, a plugin chain on every strip, one 7.1 pair and a two-device output

6 sources, 5 mixes, a plugin chain on every strip, one 7.1 pair and a two-device output

- **EQ bands move while the audio plays.** These are built from biquad filters rather than the preset-file kind, so frequency, gain and Q take effect as you drag them. No restart, no gap.

https://preview.redd.it/pgwjv6yc9uih1.png?width=481&format=png&auto=webp&s=c33ee054601d07c62814eb218a7a783f7e90dcd3

- **The board is handled directly.** Drag a stage along its chain to reorder it, or onto another card to move it there. Drag a card onto the opposite column to connect the two. Drag an app between strips to move what it's playing through. Click a stage to take it in or out of the signal.

Drag and reorder sources/mixes

Again this is just highlighting the new page Signal Paths, which took a-lot of work. Here is a screenshot of the dashboard (which I'm currently working on revamping to match efficiency)

Dashboard 0.4.0

There's alot more the app offers and I'd love for people to come check it out. I have fixed the bugs/issues I've been receiving but would like more feedback. I will add a copy pasta from the Readme.md below. thanks to all the people who've been helping.

- GitHub: https://github.com/knightinfected/PipeWireController

- AUR: `paru -S pipewire-control-center` (or `yay`)

- Full changelog with screenshots: https://github.com/knightinfected/PipeWireController/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md

Not on Arch? There are install instructions for Fedora, Ubuntu/Debian and

others in the README — it's pure Python, no build step.

**What I'd like from you**

Honestly, feedback. I use this daily on my own setup, which means I mostly find

the bugs *I* happen to walk into, and every PipeWire setup is wildly different

from every other one. If you try it and something is broken or confusing or

just annoying, open an issue — a one-liner helps more than you'd think. Half of

this release exists because two people took the time.

Full Disclosure here- AI was used in this project.

I just want feedback, if there's an issue with AI use please I understand but I'd love to get any feedback whether its bugs or whatever. If you are trying the app and would like to help, please try the import your own config in virtual devices (that is if you have any) and let me know how that goes, if it doesn't work I'd love to get hands on that config.

Pipewire Controller

pasting upcoming stuff from github below and if you have any feature suggestion. Do let me know.

Currently working on / upcoming

Rough list, no particular order, no promises on timing:

• Network audio manager — PipeWire's network side in the GUI: RAOP/AirPlay sinks, streaming between machines, discovery.
• UI improvements — the app is currently extremely boring to look at. The live meters in v0.3.6 were a first step, there's a lot more to do.
• Quality of life — scaling, where buttons actually live, gaps and spacing. Small stuff, but it adds up.
• Individual channel volume (I know, I know.)
• Hide the complicated sections behind Advanced, so opening the app isn't a wall of knobs unless you want it to be.
• Microphone cleanup button in the Input/Recording section, done cleanly — so you can clean up a mic without going hunting for it.

I do appreciate all of you that have been providing feedback.

I maintain PipeWireController, a control center for PipeWire. I'm trying to harden it against real-world setups, and my own configs only cover so much.

Gist, paste, or a link to your dotfiles all work. Happy to tell you how my tool handles yours in return. Thanks!

Here is a link to all the screenshots.https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxaudio/s/iyo0jZhYmd

Edit: here is an overview of what it can do
control center for PipeWire — filter chains, HRIR virtual surround, drop-in config management, live patchbay, performance monitoring, virtual devices, routing snapshots, per-application policies and LADSPA/LV2 effect inserts

Thanks everyone who came yesterday and tried my little app. I released the app on AUR yesterday and is available on github here (https://github.com/knightinfected/PipeWireController). The current version is 0.1.2 and some of the screenshots are from 0.2
I received a ton of negative comments and messages regarding my use of AI. I spent a lot of my time on this and well over did this project abit and english being my secondary language didnt help.
I have gone down this audio rabbit hole in linux and anyone else who has also done it knows how annoying it gets especially with reading the wikis to actual application.

Anyhow I hope it helps someone out there and I will be updating it in the next day or later today as I am currently testing. Version 0.1.2 is available as of right now on GitHub though.

There are too many features to list them out so I added lot of screenshots to help understand.

Thanks everyone who came yesterday and tried my little app. I released the app on AUR yesterday and is available on github here (https://github.com/knightinfected/PipeWireController). The current version is 0.1.2 and some of the screenshots are from 0.2
I received a ton of negative comments and messages regarding my use of AI. I spent a lot of my time on this and well over did this project abit and english being my secondary language didnt help.
I have gone down this audio rabbit hole in linux and anyone else who has also done it knows how annoying it gets especially with reading the wikis to actual application.

Anyhow I hope it helps someone out there and I will be updating it in the next day or later today as I am currently testing. Version 0.1.2 is available as of right now on GitHub though.

There are too many features to list them out so I added lot of screenshots to help understand and showcase.

Included pretty much everything from pipewire's wiki that i found to be important or useful.
I have used AI in building this program and i hope its not an issue as the utility of this little program suppresses the AI hate train by a large margin lol

Originally wanted something to change filter chains without editing configs especially adding/removing hrir files and well i like tinkering and ended up here. Filter chains cuz my old laptop can only run easy effects for an hour or so before crashing. Anyhow i hope I get people to try it out.

Forgot to add link -- https://github.com/knightinfected/PipeWireController

Edit- just added it on AUR (pipewire-controller) and have updated the screenshots on GitHub