OpenChatMix

Lightweight ChatMix for any headset on Windows: balance game and chat, process your microphone, and drive the ChatMix dial of SteelSeries Arctis headsets without SteelSeries GG or Sonar.

English · Українська

OpenChatMix is free and open source. If you'd like to say thanks, you can support it on Ko-fi or through a monobank jar. Entirely optional: bug reports and headset tests help just as much.

ChatMix balances game audio against voice chat with one control: turn it one way and the game gets louder while chat gets quieter, turn it the other way and chat takes over. OpenChatMix brings that to any headset or speakers on Windows, with hotkeys, the mouse wheel or the panel, and adds a microphone chain with noise suppression, a compressor, an equalizer and VST plugins.

On SteelSeries Arctis headsets it goes further. Their hardware ChatMix dial normally only works while SteelSeries GG and Sonar run: several background processes, hundreds of megabytes of RAM and a set of virtual audio devices. OpenChatMix talks to the headset directly over USB HID instead, and also covers its native settings.

The balance is applied as per-app volume in Windows, so the sound keeps going straight to the headset. If you prefer Sonar's way, an optional virtual device mode mixes Game and Chat from two virtual audio cables instead. It is a single native executable that idles at 0% CPU and installs no drivers of its own.

On its own OpenChatMix needs about 4 MB of memory. What you add on top costs its own: the microphone chain and the equalizers a little, VST plugins as much as they need — a plugin with a neural network, such as a voice cleaner, can take hundreds of megabytes.

Works with any headset

Any headset, speakers or an unsupported SteelSeries model:

The balance is set in the panel, with hotkeys or with the mouse wheel while a key combination is held, and applies to the default output device, whose name the panel shows. A single key works as a hotkey, so a keyboard's volume knob can act as a ChatMix wheel.
Game, Chat and Media groups, ducking, app profiles and the popup work the same way.
The microphone chain and, in virtual device mode, the equalizer work with any device.

SteelSeries Arctis: one app instead of SteelSeries GG

SteelSeries headsets from the list below also get the hardware dial and their native settings, so GG and Sonar can stay closed:

ChatMix from the dial on the GameDAC, base station or headset.
Native headset settings from GG's Engine page: the Engine EQ with its presets and custom curve, microphone volume, sidetone, mic mute LED, gain, volume limiter, display brightness and dimming, auto power-off, wireless and Bluetooth options and battery level, depending on the model. They are stored in the headset itself and stay active while no app runs.
Battery beside the app's name on the Mixer tab, in the tray tooltip, as the tray icon at the even balance (in the theme's color, or green to red by its charge) and as a popup when it runs low. Bluetooth headphones show theirs too when Windows gets the level from them.
Only what your model has. The panel shows the settings, the battery and the display options that the connected model supports, and nothing it does not.
A Sonar-style mode with two virtual audio devices and a 10-band parametric equalizer, if you want it.

Features

Hardware dial. The GameDAC / base station dial drives the Game–Chat balance. While OpenChatMix runs, the ChatMix icon is shown on the GameDAC display, so a glance tells you it is active.
Volume stays hardware. Only ChatMix reports are used; turning the knob in volume mode keeps working as before. The panel shows which mode the dial is in.
Your own volumes stay. ChatMix does not move the app sliders of the Windows volume mixer, so a volume you set for an app yourself keeps working on top of the balance. In virtual device mode the taskbar slider and the volume keys work too, while recordings of the Game and Chat devices (for example in OBS) keep the full level.
Game / Chat / Media groups. Unknown apps follow the Game side, Discord and the Xbox party chat start in Chat (they appear in the group once installed), and Media apps (music, videos) are never touched by ChatMix — like Sonar's Media channel. The Media group is off until you turn it on in Settings → Audio.
Manual assignment. Open a group and add any running app, or browse for an .exe, even if it is closed.
Native headset settings, shown only for the connected model: the 10-band Engine EQ with the SteelSeries presets (Flat, Bass Boost, Focus, Smiley) and a custom curve, microphone volume, sidetone, mic mute LED, gain, volume limiter, GameDAC brightness and screen dimming, the line out (speakers, or a stream mix of the main sound, the aux input and the microphone), auto power-off, 2.4 GHz mode, Bluetooth options and battery level, depending on the headset.
Game presets on the headset itself. Any game preset (built-in or from Sonar) can be put on the headset's own Engine EQ, converted to its ten bands, so it works without virtual devices too.
EQ presets as files. Save the current curve, import presets from others, keep backups.
Screensaver for the GameDAC display (Nova Pro). While no sound plays, an animation, a clock or your own image or GIF keeps the OLED from burning in. Any sound brings the usual screen back. The Screensaver on/off hotkey keeps it on until you press it again, and Test on the Headset tab shows it for a few seconds. It also runs while SteelSeries GG is open and gives way to GG's own apps for the display (Discord, Now Playing, Spotify, Audio Visualizer) that are switched on: the moment one of them hands GG a message, a track or its animation, even without sound, the screensaver stops drawing over it until GG is done. With the Nova Pro Wireless it can show a Bluetooth icon in a corner while the base station's Bluetooth is on: steady with a device connected, blinking slowly while it waits for one and fast while it pairs.
Visualizer for the GameDAC screen (Nova Pro). Bars that follow the sound fill the whole screen while music or a video plays, or for any sound if you like. Music and video are told apart the way Windows knows them: an app that plays tells the media controls of Windows, as players and YouTube in the browser do. Turning the knob shows the usual screen for a moment.
3rd party add-ons for the GameDAC screen (Nova Pro). Programs made for SteelSeries GameSense can show messages and more on the GameDAC while SteelSeries GG is closed. OpenChatMix includes no such programs: you add one you already have by choosing its file, and OpenChatMix starts it and shows what it sends. With a program for Discord, such as the one that comes with GG (gamesense-discord-x64.exe in GG's folder; OpenChatMix knows one by "discord" in its file name), every event gets its own screen, as in GG's Engine: displays with an icon, a heading and the message, the name of who is talking or the channel, or an image, shown once, a number of times or while the event lasts.

Virtual device mode (optional). Instead of changing app volumes, mix Game and Chat from two virtual audio cables into the headset, like Sonar does. Chat apps are sent to the Chat cable and all other apps to the Game cable on their own. The cables are switched on and made the Windows defaults only while the mode runs.
Microphone chain (optional). Noise suppression, a compressor, a 10-band equalizer and your own VST 2 and VST 3 plugins on the microphone, played into a virtual cable that Discord, OBS or a game use as their microphone — like LightHost, with the effects built in. Microphone and cable levels can be held at 100%. See Microphone.
Equalizer for any headset (virtual device mode, optional). A 10-band parametric EQ for Game and for Chat with a response graph like Sonar's, Bass Boost, Voice Clarity, Treble Boost and Smart Volume, built-in presets, your own preset files and the presets of a local SteelSeries Sonar installation. It is off until you turn it on in Settings → Audio.
Hotkeys with an on-screen popup (Ctrl + Alt + ← / → / ↓ by default), plus optional hotkeys to mute game, chat or media, to send the sound to the next output device or feed the microphone chain from the next microphone (virtual cables are skipped), and one that turns the GameDAC screensaver on and off. A single key works as well, so a keyboard's volume knob can become a ChatMix wheel. Hotkeys also work without a SteelSeries headset: the balance is then applied to the default output device.
Output devices. Put the connected devices in your order of preference; optionally the sound moves to the next one when the output disconnects and back when the preferred device reconnects. The Next output device hotkey follows the same order. Disconnected and disabled devices and virtual cables are not listed. Devices you never want to switch to go into Never switch to.
Mouse wheel ChatMix (optional). Hold Ctrl + Win, Alt + Win or Ctrl + Alt + Shift and turn the wheel: up for more chat, down for more game; click the wheel for an even balance. Only that exact combination is taken, so zooming with Ctrl or Ctrl + Alt and the wheel keeps working.
Exact balance without a ChatMix headset. With a headset dial the balance keeps to its 12 steps per side, so the app and the GameDAC always agree. Without one, the slider and the arrow keys move it by single percents; the mouse wheel and the hotkeys by 10%.
Optional extras, each with its own switch: lower the game while someone talks in chat (ducking), app profiles that set the balance and the Game, Chat, Media and headset equalizers while an app or a game runs, a popup for the ChatMix wheel on headsets without a display, and a low battery popup for wireless headsets (at 15% by default).
Material 3 tray panel with an automatic, light or dark theme in soft, pastel colors: the Windows accent (the default), eight presets or any color for Game, and a color of its own for Chat that always stays easy to tell apart from Game. Standard, medium or high contrast, and an Acrylic, Mica or solid background. The whole panel works from the keyboard. Animations run at the monitor's refresh rate, including 144 Hz and 240 Hz screens, and can be reduced. The tray icon shows Game and Chat as two bars that shrink with their level; it can be colored or monochrome, and at the even balance the bars can morph into a square, a ring, an equals sign or, with a wireless headset, its battery lying on its side as in Material 3 Expressive, in the theme's color or from green to red by its charge, and back.
Material 3 at the tray icon too: hovering it shows a card with the device, its battery and the balance, and right-clicking opens a Material 3 menu that works with the keyboard as well. Icon buttons in the panel explain themselves in tooltips.
How the headset is connected at a glance: the Mixer tab shows it beside the headset's name (USB, 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth, 3.5 mm, HDMI or S/PDIF).
Export and import of all settings in one ZIP file, to move them to another PC or keep a copy. An import keeps the previous settings as a backup first.
English and Ukrainian interface.
A short tour on the first start shows what is where; Settings → General → Show the tour opens it again.
Starts with Windows, reconnects after sleep, unplugging or SteelSeries GG releasing the headset.
Warns once (and in the panel) if SteelSeries GG starts while a SteelSeries headset is connected; the warning can be hidden or turned off, and never appears for other headsets.
Updates from GitHub (optional): once a day OpenChatMix asks the project's GitHub releases for a newer version. Install downloads it, checks it against the release's SHA256SUMS.txt and restarts. Turn the check off in Settings → Updates.
No telemetry. The update check is the only network access.

Supported headsets

The hardware ChatMix dial and the native settings are available on these models; everything else works with any headset.

Headset	USB product IDs	Status
Arctis Nova Pro Wired (PC, Xbox)	`12CB`, `12CD`	✅ Tested
Arctis 7+ / 7P+ / 7X+ / 7+ Destiny	`220E`, `2212`, `2216`, `2236`	✅ Tested (Arctis 7+)
Arctis Nova Pro Wireless (PC, Xbox)	`12E0`, `12E5`	✅ Works, reported by @Katan21 in #5
Arctis Nova 7 / 7 Gen 2	`2202`, `22A1`, `227E`	✅ Works, reported by @zer0ed: Nova 7 `22A1` (#1), Nova 7 Gen 2 `227E` (#2); the equalizer of `22A1` and `227E` (Gen 2 protocol) is experimental (#7)
Arctis Nova 7X / Diablo IV / WoW	`2206`, `2258`, `229E`, `22AD`, `22A4`, `22A5`, `223A`, `22A9`, `227A`, `22AB`	Untested — same protocol as Nova 7; `229E`, `22A5`, `22AD`, `22A9` and `22AB` use the Gen 2 protocol with the experimental equalizer
Arctis Nova 5X	`2253`, `2264`	Untested — Game and Chat may be swapped
Arctis Nova Elite	`2244`, `2270`	Experimental — ChatMix dial and battery only, from published protocol descriptions (#6)

Not supported: the Arctis Nova 7P (its dial controls sidetone, not ChatMix). The original Arctis 7, 9 and Pro Wireless mix game and chat in hardware through two playback devices and do not need an app.

Reports for other models are very welcome — see Troubleshooting for how to collect a log.

Getting started

Download OpenChatMix.exe (or the zip) from the Releases page.
Quit SteelSeries GG completely (tray icon → Exit) and disable it in Task Manager → Startup apps. GG and OpenChatMix cannot control the headset at the same time.
In Settings → System → Sound, choose the headset itself (for example Headphones (Arctis Nova Pro)) as the output device instead of SteelSeries Sonar – Gaming. In Discord and other apps, set the output to Default or to the headset. Prefer Sonar's setup with separate Game and Chat devices? See the virtual device mode guide further down.
Run OpenChatMix.exe. A tray icon with two bars (Game and Chat) appears; click it to open the panel.

The executable is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may ask for confirmation on the first run (More info → Run anyway).

Antivirus warnings. Some antivirus programs distrust new, unsigned executables, especially ones that talk to USB devices, start with Windows and can replace themselves when an update is installed. A warning about OpenChatMix is a false positive. To be sure you have the genuine file, compare Get-FileHash OpenChatMix.exe with SHA256SUMS.txt from the same release, read the source code in this repository, or build it yourself. Please report false positives to your antivirus vendor; for Microsoft Defender use the file submission page.

Quick guide

Balance game and chat. On an Arctis with a ChatMix dial, turn it (on the GameDAC, press the knob first to switch it to ChatMix). With any other headset or speakers use Ctrl + Alt + ← / → (↓ centers), the slider on the Mixer tab, or the mouse wheel with a key combination (Settings → Hotkeys → Mouse wheel).
Tell it which apps are chat. Mixer → Groups → Chat → Add, then pick Discord, Telegram or any other app. Everything else follows Game. Music and videos that should never change go into Media (turn the group on in Settings → Audio). The trash icon next to an app takes it out of its group again.
Set each side's volume. The sliders under Game and Chat on the Mixer tab. Windows volumes stay at 100%.
Headset settings (Arctis). The Headset tab: equalizer presets and your own curve, microphone, sidetone, gain, display and screensaver. They are stored in the headset itself.
Mix like Sonar, with an equalizer (optional). Install two virtual cables and turn on Settings → Audio → Virtual device mode and Equalizer; see Virtual device mode.
Clean up your microphone (optional). Install VB-CABLE, turn on Settings → Microphone → Process the microphone and choose CABLE Output as the microphone in Discord; see Microphone.
Make it look your way. Settings → Appearance: theme, contrast, Game and Chat colors, the battery's color, background and the tray icon.

Usage

Action	How
Change the balance	GameDAC: press the knob to switch it to ChatMix, then turn it. Other headsets: turn the ChatMix wheel.
	Mixer tab: drag the slider, scroll over it, or use ← / →. Double-click centers it.
	Hotkeys: `Ctrl + Alt + ←` more game, `Ctrl + Alt + →` more chat, `Ctrl + Alt + ↓` balanced.
	Mouse wheel with the key combination held, once turned on in Settings → Hotkeys → Mouse wheel.
Volume of Game or Chat	Mixer → the slider under Game or Chat. Its darker fill shows what plays; Windows volumes stay at 100%.
Move an app between groups	Mixer → Groups → open a group → Game / Chat / Media next to the app.
Add an app manually	Open a group → Add → pick a running app or Browse .exe.
Remove an app from a group	Open the group → the trash icon next to the app. It follows Game again; a closed app leaves the list.
Theme, contrast, Game and Chat colors, battery color, background, tray icon	Settings → Appearance.
Use the panel from the keyboard	`Tab` / `Shift + Tab` move between controls, `Enter` (or `Space`) presses, the arrows change sliders and values, `Esc` goes back.
Hotkeys, popups, battery warning	Settings → Hotkeys / Notifications.
Language, startup, the tour	Settings → General.
Back up the settings or move them to another PC	Settings → General → Export; Import there takes them back and restarts OpenChatMix. The previous settings go to `%APPDATA%\OpenChatMix\Backups` first.
Recover the headset	Tray menu → Reconnect headset.
Headset settings and EQ	Headset tab (shown when a supported headset is connected).
Rename, copy or delete saved headset presets	Headset tab → the buttons beside each preset under My presets. Deleted presets go to the Recycle Bin.
Save, import or back up EQ presets	Headset tab → Save / Import / Folder. Presets live in `%APPDATA%\OpenChatMix\Presets`.
Screensaver on the GameDAC	Headset tab → Screensaver → pick an animation and the delay; the Screensaver on/off hotkey keeps it on until pressed again.
Line out: speakers or a stream mix	Headset tab → Line out (GameDAC); in Streaming set the main sound, aux input and microphone levels.
Virtual device mode, Media group, equalizer, ducking	Settings → Audio.
Equalizer for Game and Chat	Equalizer tab (virtual device mode), once turned on in Settings → Audio.
Microphone processing and VST plugins	Settings → Microphone; its equalizer is the Mic channel of the Equalizer tab.
Order of output devices, switching on disconnect	Settings → Output devices; drag a device to its place.
Never switch to a device	Settings → Output devices → the ⦸ button next to it; ↶ under Never switch to brings it back.
Reorder the microphone effects or plugins	Settings → Microphone → drag a step or a plugin by its handle.
Type an exact value	Click the value between − and + (EQ frequency, level, Q, preamp, ducking, battery warning), type it (`1.5k` works for 1500 Hz) and press Enter.
Keep the panel open	Pin it with the pin next to the page title; click it again to let the panel hide when it loses focus.
Next output device	Settings → Hotkeys → Next output device.
Next microphone for the virtual microphone	Settings → Hotkeys → Next microphone (shown while Settings → Microphone processes it).
App profiles (balance and equalizers per app)	Settings → App profiles → Add.
Visualizer on the GameDAC screen	Headset → Visualizer → Show while something plays.
3rd party add-ons for the GameDAC screen	Close SteelSeries GG, then Settings → 3rd party add-ons → Add and pick the program, e.g. `C:\Program Files\SteelSeries\GG\apps\engine\engineApps\discord\gamesense-discord-x64.exe`.

When OpenChatMix exits, every app it lowered plays at its own volume again and the GameDAC dial returns to plain volume control. An app that exits while ChatMix lowers it also starts at its own volume next time.

Headset settings are only sent when you change them in the panel; OpenChatMix never overwrites the headset's settings on its own. On the Nova Pro Wired the current EQ preset and curve, microphone volume, sidetone, gain and ChatMix balance are read from the GameDAC when it connects and after every change; display brightness and screen dimming are not reported by the device, so the panel shows the values last set from OpenChatMix.

When a preset stored on the headset (Flat, Bass Boost, Focus, Smiley) is active, the Headset tab shows its curve; choose Custom to edit the bands. Game presets puts a game preset on the headset as the custom curve. If the current custom curve is not saved yet, it is first kept under My presets.

Virtual device mode

Install two virtual audio cables. Any virtual audio cables work; this free setup is tested with OpenChatMix:

Role Cable License

Game VB-Audio Hi-Fi Cable free for end users

Chat Virtual Audio Cable Lite free for home use; one cable, 48 kHz / 16-bit

Alternative for either VB-Audio VB-CABLE free

Several apps (say Discord and Telegram) can play into VAC Lite at once: Windows mixes them into the single stream the Lite edition allows. VB-CABLE A+B (donationware) works as well. CABLE Input and CABLE In 16ch of the basic VB-CABLE are two inputs of the same cable, so only one of them can be used; it is not picked on its own, choose it in the card. If you process the microphone, keep the basic VB-CABLE for that.

Then Settings → Audio → Audio routing → enable Virtual device mode. Each channel (Game, Chat and, with the Media group on, Media) has a row; open it to choose its virtual device and where it plays (Same as the output by default, or any other playback device). VB-Audio Hi-Fi Cable, Virtual Audio Cable and VB-CABLE A–D are recognized and assigned on their own, also when they are installed while OpenChatMix runs. The output defaults to the connected headset.

The SteelSeries Sonar devices that SteelSeries GG installs cannot be used: even with GG closed, Sonar passes their sound to the headset by itself, so everything would be heard twice.
With Switch devices with the mode on (the default), the Game and Chat devices are enabled while the mode runs. Game becomes the Windows default output and Chat the default communications device. When the mode is turned off or OpenChatMix exits, the previous defaults come back and both devices are disabled again, so apps fall back to the headset instead of going silent.
With Send apps to their device on (the default), apps in the Chat group play on the Chat device and all other apps on the Game device, as if chosen in Windows' per-app sound settings. Some apps switch only after a restart; apps with their own output setting (Discord, OBS) should use Default. When the mode is turned off or OpenChatMix exits, these apps return to the default device. Turn the option off to choose devices yourself.

Media needs a virtual cable of its own in this mode, for example a third VB-Audio or Virtual Audio Cable; which one is up to you, and it must not be the cable your microphone plays into. Media apps are then sent to it, ChatMix never changes it, its own Windows volume does, and it can play on another output, such as speakers, while Game and Chat stay on the headset. It gets a channel of its own on the Equalizer tab. Without a Media device, Media apps play on the Game side. Apps that play straight to the headset are not affected.

OpenChatMix captures what is played on the two devices (WASAPI loopback) and plays it on the output with the ChatMix balance applied, adding about 40 ms of latency. The panel shows what the bridge adds; the device's own delay comes on top (a few milliseconds over USB, far more over Bluetooth).

The Windows volume and mute of the Game device apply to every channel that plays on the same output as Game, so the taskbar slider and the volume keys work as usual while it is the default output. The volume of the Chat device applies to the Chat side only, and that of the Media device to Media. A level above 0 dB, such as the +12 dB of Virtual Audio Cable at 100%, plays at the original level. Apps that record the Game or Chat device themselves, such as OBS, get the sound before ChatMix and the device volume, at full level.

OpenChatMix cannot install a virtual audio device itself: that takes a signed kernel driver, and bundling VB-CABLE with other software needs a distribution agreement with VB-Audio. The open-source virtual audio drivers available today are unsigned and only load in Windows test mode, which requires turning off Secure Boot and is refused by many anti-cheat systems.

Equalizer

In virtual device mode the Game and Chat audio passes through OpenChatMix, so it can be equalized for any headset, SteelSeries or not. The Equalizer tab has a 10-band parametric EQ for each side, drawn like Sonar's: drag a numbered point to set its frequency and gain, scroll over it to make it wider or narrower (Q), double-click it to reset its gain. The graph stays in view while the band below it is edited. Each band can be a peak, low or high shelf, low or high pass, or notch filter. The preamp lowers the level before boosts, and a soft limiter keeps boosted audio from clipping. The equalizer adds no latency. If you do not need it, turn it off in Settings → Audio; the tab then disappears.

As in Sonar, each side also has one-knob effects that presets leave alone:

Bass Boost, Voice Clarity and Treble Boost, up to +12 dB each;
Smart Volume (Quiet, Balanced or Loud), which evens out loud and quiet moments: it lowers explosions quickly and raises quiet passages slowly, by up to 9 dB, and leaves silence alone.

Virtual surround is not included; Windows Sonic for Headphones (in the Windows sound settings) works with any headset.

Presets come from three places:

built-in presets: Flat, Bass Boost, Footsteps, Treble Boost, V-Shape, Clear Dialog and Night for Game; Flat, Clear Voice, Warm Voice, Less Harsh and Radio for Chat; Flat, Voice Clarity, Broadcast, Bass Cut, Less Nasal and Less Sibilance for the microphone;
the game, chat and microphone presets of SteelSeries Sonar, if SteelSeries GG is installed: they are read from GG's local database and are not shipped with OpenChatMix;
your own presets, saved as files in %APPDATA%\OpenChatMix\Presets\Parametric.

Microphone

The microphone chain records your microphone, runs it through the effects and plays the result into a virtual cable. Apps then use the other end of the cable as their microphone.

Install VB-Audio VB-CABLE (free). Its CABLE Input is picked on its own; any other virtual cable can be chosen in the card.
Settings → Microphone → turn on Process the microphone. The Windows default microphone is used unless you choose another one.
In Discord, OBS, the game or Settings → System → Sound, choose CABLE Output as the microphone.

The effects run at 48 kHz, in blocks of 10 ms. By default the order is the one below; drag the steps under Processing order to change it, for example to run a plugin before the noise suppression:

Noise suppression with RNNoise, a small neural network that removes fans, keyboards and room noise while keeping the voice. Strong also closes a gate while RNNoise hears no speech.
Equalizer: the same 10-band parametric EQ as for Game and Chat, with presets made for voices (Voice Clarity, Broadcast, Bass Cut, Less Nasal, Less Sibilance) and the microphone presets of a local Sonar installation.
Compressor (Light, Medium, Strong): makes quiet speech louder and loud speech quieter, and keeps the room noise between words down instead of raising it.
VST plugins: any VST 2 (.dll) or VST 3 (.vst3) effect, top to bottom; drag them to reorder. Click a plugin to open its own window; its settings are kept in %APPDATA%\OpenChatMix\PluginStates. Plugins run on their own thread, as mono; stereo plugins get the microphone on both sides.
A limiter at the end keeps the result from clipping.

The chain adds about 30–50 ms of latency, depending on the devices. With Keep levels at 100% on, OpenChatMix sets the microphone and both ends of the cable back to 100% whenever Windows or a call app lowers them; mute stays yours. Windows' own "reduce other sounds during calls" leaves the processed microphone alone, and ducking only ever lowers the Game side of ChatMix.

Listen to the microphone also plays the processed microphone on the current output device, to check the effects and plugins by ear. Only you hear it; other apps still get the microphone through the cable. While it is on, a meter shows the level against 0 dBFS: speech peaking around −12 dB is right, and the peaks should stay below 0 dB.

Device lists show connected, enabled devices only. Turn on a disabled one in Settings → System → Sound → All sound devices. The output and microphone pickers also leave out virtual cables.

Screensaver and visualizer (Arctis Nova Pro)

The GameDAC and the Nova Pro Wireless base station have a 128×64 OLED that shows the same screen for hours when nothing plays. The screensaver replaces it after a chosen delay (15 s to 10 min) without sound. Any sound, turning the knob or a change made in OpenChatMix brings the usual screen back at once, so the level meters still show while audio plays. The Screensaver on/off hotkey keeps it on until you press it again, sound or not; turning the knob or a change made in OpenChatMix then shows the usual screen for three seconds.

Stars, Clock (time and date in your Windows regional format, slowly drifting), Game of Life and Screen off.
Image or GIF: any GIF, PNG, JPEG or BMP, letterboxed to 128×64 and dithered. Animated GIFs play in real time — bring your own Bad Apple!!. A still image moves by a pixel every half minute. Large files are decoded on the display's own thread at low priority and never block the app; images over 100 megapixels, broken GIF frames and anything that runs out of memory are refused instead of taking OpenChatMix down, and of very long GIFs the first part is played.

Each drawing report takes the GameDAC about 30 ms, so a full-screen animation runs at about 15 frames per second; small moving objects update faster because only the changed area is sent. When OpenChatMix exits or the PC goes to sleep, the display is handed back to the GameDAC.

Visualizer. Headset → Visualizer fills the screen with 32 bars from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with falling peak marks, while something plays: music and video (an app that tells the media controls of Windows it plays) or any sound. It runs at about 17 to 23 frames a second, as fast as the GameDAC takes them. Turning the knob or a change made in OpenChatMix shows the usual screen for three seconds; a screensaver turned on by the hotkey goes first.

Add-on screens (3rd party add-ons) go over the screensaver, the visualizer or the GameDAC's own screen for as long as they last; then the screen they covered comes back.

How it works

Headset. OpenChatMix opens the vendor HID interface of the headset and uses these reports:

Headset	Direction	Report	Meaning
Nova Pro (interface 4)	PC → device	`06 49 01` / `06 49 00`	Dial controls ChatMix / volume only
	PC → device	`06 8D 01` / `06 8D 00`	Show / hide the ChatMix icon
	PC → device	`06 45 gg cc`	Set the balance (game, chat 0–100)
	device → PC	`07 45 gg cc`	Dial turned in ChatMix mode
	device → PC	`07 25 vv`	Knob turned in volume mode
	PC → device	`06 20`	Query settings: reply `06 20` with gain (byte 4), EQ preset (6), 10 EQ bands (7–16), mic volume (17), sidetone (18) — verified on a Nova Pro Wired
	PC → device	`06 2E n` / `06 33 b1…b10`	EQ preset (4 = custom) / custom bands, `0x14` = 0 dB, 0.5 dB steps
	PC → device	`06 37` `06 39` `06 27` `06 85` `06 83`	Mic volume, sidetone, gain (1 Low, 2 High), display brightness, screen dimming
	PC → device	feature `06 93 x y w h …`	Draw on the 128×64 display: up to 64 columns, height in multiples of 8, pixels column by column
	PC → device	`06 95`	Hand the display back to the GameDAC
Nova 7 / 7+ / 5X (interface 3)	PC → device	`00 B0`	Status request, polled every 100 ms until dial events arrive, then every 30 s for the battery
	device → PC	`B0 …`	Status: battery at byte 2 (Nova 5X: 3), 0–100 or 0–4 on older models; game and chat at bytes 4 and 5 (Nova 5X: chat 5, game 6)
	device → PC	`45 gg cc`	Dial event (Gen 2 firmware); polling stops once seen
	PC → device	`00 33 b1…b10 00`	Custom EQ bands on the original Nova 7 firmware, `0x14` = 0 dB, 0.5 dB steps
Nova Elite (interface 3, experimental)	PC → device	`01 8D 01` · `01 49 01`	As on the Nova Pro, with report ID `0x01`
	PC → device	`01 B0`	Status: Bluetooth at bytes 4–5, battery 0–100 at 6, headset link at 14 (`08` connected), charging at 15 (`02` charging)
	device → PC	`07 45 gg cc` · `07 B7 hh ss cs`	Dial event; battery event (headset %, spare %, charging state)
Nova 7 Gen 2 protocol	PC → device	`00 A7 00 01 name` · `00 33 00 f1…f10` · `00 27`	Parametric EQ (experimental): the preset name, ten filters of frequency (u16 big-endian), type (1 = peak), gain (signed, 0.1 dB) and Q × 1000 (u16 little-endian), then apply; `00 09` saves

Audio. The balance is applied with the Windows audio session API on the headset's playback device, so there is no extra audio path and no added latency. IAudioSessionManager2 lists the apps and IChannelAudioVolume lowers them through the per-channel volume of their session, which Windows multiplies with the app's slider in the volume mixer. Windows keeps that volume for the app's next start, so OpenChatMix resets it as soon as the app exits. In virtual device mode loopback capture takes the sound before the Windows volume of the Game and Chat devices, so the bridges read it (IAudioEndpointVolume) and apply it themselves. The screensaver watches the device's peak meter (IAudioMeterInformation). Virtual device mode switches devices and defaults through the IPolicyConfig interface that the Windows sound settings use, and sends apps to the Game or Chat device through IAudioPolicyConfigFactory, the interface behind the per-app device choice in the Windows volume mixer; neither needs administrator rights. The equalizer is a chain of biquad filters computed in double precision.

Microphone. A WASAPI capture stream of the microphone and a render stream into the cable, both at 48 kHz mono with Windows converting from and to the devices' formats, on an MMCSS "Pro Audio" thread. RNNoise 0.1.1 runs in its native 10 ms frames. VST 3 plugins are hosted on the interfaces of the VST 3 SDK (MIT), VST 2 plugins through their published binary interface; both, with their editor windows, live on a separate thread with a single-threaded COM apartment, as plugin user interfaces expect. The render session opts out of Windows' communications ducking (IAudioSessionControl2::SetDuckingPreference).

GameDAC screen. The screensaver, the visualizer and add-on screens are drawn by a thread of their own through a handle of its own to the GameDAC's HID interface, so drawing never holds up ChatMix commands. The visualizer listens to the headset with WASAPI loopback only while it shows and splits the sound into 32 bands from 20 Hz to 20 kHz with a 4096-point FFT; whether music or video plays comes from the media sessions Windows lists (GlobalSystemMediaTransportControlsSessionManager). To give way to SteelSeries GG's own apps for the display, OpenChatMix watches the I/O of their helper processes while GG runs and the screensaver is on (GetProcessIoCounters): the moment a helper hands GG something to show, the screensaver stops; the regular heartbeat each helper sends is learned and ignored. Add-ons talk to a GameSense receiver on 127.0.0.1 with a free port, whose address goes into %ProgramData%\SteelSeries\SteelSeries Engine 3\coreProps.json while they run and is put back afterwards; requests a web page could send are refused. Add-ons run in a job object, so they end with OpenChatMix.

Settings live in %APPDATA%\OpenChatMix\OpenChatMix.ini. If an OpenChatMix.ini file is placed next to the executable, it is used instead (portable mode).

Building from source

Requirements: Windows 10 or 11 and Visual Studio 2022 (or the Build Tools) with the Desktop development with C++ workload. The two third-party libraries are part of the repository under third_party/ (see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md).

build.bat                      :: builds build\OpenChatMix.exe
powershell -File package.ps1   :: builds and packages dist\OpenChatMix.exe and the release zip
tools\icongen\build.bat        :: regenerates assets\OpenChatMix.ico from code
tools\preview\build.bat        :: builds build\preview\OpenChatMixPreview.exe (after build.bat)

OpenChatMixPreview.exe shows the real panel with a simulated headset, to look at every page without the hardware: its tray icon's menu picks the model (each family, another headset, speakers or none), the battery, Bluetooth, SteelSeries GG and the update state. It opens no device and changes nothing in Windows; at each start it copies your settings next to itself and keeps its changes there. Started with --screenshots, it keeps the settings already next to it and lists a fixed set of apps, as for the pictures in this README; --headset N starts with the N-th model of its menu.

src/            application (Win32, WASAPI, HID, Direct2D, microphone chain, plugin host)
src/ui/         Material 3 panel, popup and drawing helpers
third_party/    RNNoise and the VST 3 SDK interfaces
assets/         app icon
tools/icongen/  icon generator
tools/preview/  the panel with a simulated headset
tools/drift_sim.cpp  simulation of the audio queue between two device clocks
docs/           screenshots and the design system (docs/design-system.md)

The panel follows a design system based on Material 3 Expressive: spacing, shapes, color roles, type, spring motion and components, described in docs/design-system.md. The tokens are in src/ui/design.h.

Troubleshooting

The dial does nothing or the volume knob seems dead. Make sure SteelSeries GG / Sonar is not running — the panel shows a warning while it is. Then use Reconnect headset from the tray menu, or unplug and reconnect the headset.
An app is not affected. OpenChatMix controls apps that play through the headset (or through the default output when no headset is connected). Check the app's output device.
An app plays on the wrong device in virtual device mode. Some apps keep their audio device until they restart. Apps with their own output setting must use Default to follow the Game or Chat device.
Native settings on untested models. Settings were taken from the projects below and checked on a Nova Pro Wired; on other models a setting may do nothing or behave differently. Please report it.
A hotkey is shown in red. Another app already uses that combination; pick a different one.
The screensaver does not start. It waits for the chosen delay without any sound on the headset. Apps that keep a stream open but play silence do not count. SteelSeries GG may draw on the display too while it runs.
"Windows did not switch the devices" in virtual device mode. Another app or a policy blocked the change; switch the devices in Settings → System → Sound or turn off Switch devices with the mode.
Discord or the game does not hear the processed microphone. Choose CABLE Output (the recording side of the cable in Settings → Microphone) as the input there, not the microphone itself. If Settings → Microphone says there is no cable, install VB-CABLE or choose a cable.
Crackling in virtual device mode or on the processed microphone. Turn on the log (below) and play for a few minutes. Lines like bridge: output ran dry … or mic: cable ran dry … mean the output ran out of audio. capture gaps / microphone gaps mean the audio thread woke too late (CPU load, a slow plugin or a driver), and the speed value shows how far apart the devices' clocks are. With no such lines, the crackle comes from elsewhere, e.g. the virtual cable's own buffer (VB-CABLE Control Panel → Max Latency) or a USB hub.
The visualizer does not show. With Music and video it shows only while an app tells Windows it plays — its controls then appear in the Windows media flyout next to the volume. Some games and apps do not; choose Any sound for them.
An add-on shows nothing. Add-ons run only while SteelSeries GG is closed and a GameDAC with its display is connected; the 3rd party add-ons page says what is missing. Some add-ons read GG's address only when they start: turn Start with OpenChatMix off and on again on the add-on's page.
A plugin "could not be loaded". Only 64-bit effect plugins work; instruments and 32-bit plugins do not. For a VST 3 bundle, choose the .vst3 folder's inner file (Contents\x86_64-win\Name.vst3) or the bundle itself.
Collecting a log. Quit OpenChatMix first (tray menu → Quit): it saves its settings when it exits and would undo the change. Set Log=1 in %APPDATA%\OpenChatMix\OpenChatMix.ini, start OpenChatMix and reproduce the problem. OpenChatMix.log appears next to the ini file and records every report from the headset. With a SteelSeries headset OpenChatMix does not support yet, the log lists its HID collections and the reports it sends (only read, nothing is sent to it): turn the dial, press its buttons, then attach the log to an issue.

Acknowledgements

Apart from RNNoise and the VST 3 SDK interfaces, which are included as marked, OpenChatMix contains no code from the projects below, but it would not exist without the protocol details they documented:

nova-chatmix-linux by Dymstro — the Nova Pro ChatMix enable (0x49), ChatMix icon (0x8D) and 0x45 report format.
HeadsetControl by Sapd and contributors — USB product IDs, status report layouts (ChatMix and battery), equalizer formats and the SteelSeries EQ preset curves for the Arctis Nova 7, 7+ and Nova 5 families and the Nova Pro Wireless; the Nova Elite captures in HeadsetControl #481.
Linux-Arctis-Manager by elegos — device definitions and native settings (microphone, sidetone, gain, display, power, wireless, Bluetooth) for the Nova Pro, Nova 7, Nova 5 and Arctis 7+, and the Nova 7 Gen 2 parametric equalizer format.
ggoled by JerwuQu — the Nova Pro OLED drawing protocol (0x93 draw report, 0x95 return to the device's interface), and the Bad Apple demo that inspired the screensaver.
The GameSense SDK by SteelSeries — the protocol that 3rd party add-ons speak, as documented there.
EarTrumpet by File-New-Project — the layout and interface IDs of IAudioPolicyConfigFactory for per-app playback devices.
Robert Bristow-Johnson's Audio EQ Cookbook — the filter formulas of the equalizer.
RNNoise by Jean-Marc Valin, Xiph.Org and Mozilla — the noise suppression of the microphone chain, included in third_party/rnnoise (BSD 3-clause).
The VST 3 SDK interfaces by Steinberg Media Technologies, included in third_party/vst3 (MIT). VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
The hid-steelseries Arctis patch series for the Linux kernel — ChatMix parsing for the Nova Pro, Nova 7 Gen 2 events and the Nova 5X byte order.
USB captures of the Arctis Nova Pro Wired GameDAC by Swiftlyx (me).
Fenderenko — ideas for improving the app.
The interface follows Material Design 3; icons come from Segoe Fluent Icons, which ship with Windows.

Disclaimer

OpenChatMix is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by SteelSeries. SteelSeries, Arctis, GameDAC, Sonar and ChatMix are trademarks of SteelSeries ApS.

OpenChatMix includes no SteelSeries software. A 3rd party add-on is a program you choose and run yourself; OpenChatMix starts the file you picked and understands GameSense, the protocol SteelSeries publishes for programs that talk to its devices.

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