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SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1038", ATTRS{idProduct}=="12e0", TAG+="uaccess"

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# nova-chatmix # Arctis Nova Pro Wireless ChatMix on Linux
### In this document
1. [About this project](#about-this-project)
2. [Disclaimer](#disclaimer)
3. [My Findings](#my-findings)
4. [Usage](#usage)
5. [What's Next](#whats-next)
6. [License](#license)
## About this project
Some SteelSeries headsets have a feature called ChatMix where you can easily adjust game and chat audio volume on the headphones or dongle.
In previous SteelSeries headsets ChatMix was always a hardware feature. It worked by providing 2 sound devices to the host, 1 for general audio and the other for chat audio.
In newer generations of their headsets however, in particular the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, this feature was taken out of the hardware itself, and made into a feature of their audio software called Sonar.
Sonar of course only works on Windows (and requires a SteelSeries account!), so everyone using other platforms were shit out of luck, even though these headphones are far from cheap.
Even though it is now a software feature, the hardware can still control it, but only when Sonar activated this feature on the base station. You can toggle between normal volume controls and ChatMix by pressing down on the volume dial on either the headset or base station.
I used ChatMix a lot on my previous SteelSeries headset, and I want to be able to use it on this one, so I started looking into how I can control 2 virtual PipeWire sinks with the ChatMix controls. This project is the result.
## Disclaimer
THIS PROJECT HAS NO ASSOCIATION TO STEELSERIES, NOR IS IT IN ANY WAY SUPPORTED BY THEM.
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR BRICKED/BROKEN DEVICES NOR DO I GUARANTEE IT WILL WORK FOR YOU.
USING ANYTHING IN THIS PROJECT *MIGHT* VOID YOUR WARRANTY AND IS AT YOUR OWN RISK
I started this project knowing nothing about USB (I still don't), so I might be overcomplicating everything. The scripts I created were quickly thrown together and don't really integrate with anything. I might try to improve this later, but I also might not, as it does work for me in it's current state.
## My findings
I started by installing SteelSeries GG and Sonar in a Windows 11 VM and passing through the base station USB device. On the (Linux) host I used Wireshark to see what happened when I enabled Sonar.
This device uses USB HID events to both configure and receive data from the base station. I identified which ones enabled what features and tried activating these on Linux using the /dev/hidraw* device. See `commands.sh` for more information.
I am on MCU firmware version `01.29.27` and DSP firmware version `00.03.82`.
### Protocol description
Again, I don't really know anything about USB, so I could be wrong about a lot of this, but this is the protocol as I understand it
See `nova.py` for a commented example implementation.
The controls and data output are on USB Interface 4 (`bInterfaceNumber=4`). This interface has 2 endpoint, 1 for sending data (`0x04`) and 1 for receiving data (`0x84`).
The HID Data messages are structured as follows:
- The first byte decides wether we are sending or receiving. `0x6` means we sent it, `0x7` means we received it from the base station
- The second byte specifies the parameter, eg. `73` (`0x49`) to enable ChatMix
- The next bytes contain the value for that parameter, some parameters use 1 byte, some use more.
- Because the message should be 64 bytes long, the unused bytes should all be `0`
These are the parameters I have found:
<br>
*(There are quite a few more parameters, like sidetone and other settings, I just haven't documented those yet.)*
| Option | Description | Parameters | Range | Notes |
| ------ | ----------- | ---------- | ----- | ----- |
| 73 | ChatMix State | - Boolean: State | 0-1 |
| 141 | Sonar Icon State | - Boolean: State | 0-1 | I think this only toggles the icon, but that could be wrong
| 37 | Volume Attenuation | - Integer: Attenuation | 0-56 | 0=max<br>56=mute |
| 69 | ChatMix Controls | - Integer: Game Volume<br>- Integer: Chat Volume | 0-100 |
| 46 | EQ Preset | - Integer: Preset | 0-18 | Preset 4 is the custom EQ profile
| 49 | Custom EQ Controls | - Integer: EQ Bar<br>- Integer: Value | 0-40 | On the base station the value ranges from -20 to 20
## Usage
For this project I created a simple Python program to both enable the controls and use them to control 2 virtual sound devices.
### Dependencies
- Python 3 (I used 3.12, it may or may not work on older versions)
- PyUSB
- PipeWire
- pactl
On Fedora 39 (assuming PipeWire is already setup) these can be installed with:
```
sudo dnf install pulseaudio-utils python3 python3-pyusb
```
To be able to run the script as a non-root user, some udev rules need to be applied. This will allow regular users to access the base station USB device.
Copy `50-nova-pro-wireless.rules` to `/etc/udev/rules.d` and reload udev rules:
```
sudo cp 50-nova-pro-wireless.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger
```
You can now run the python script to use ChatMix.
This will create 2 virtual sound devices:
- NovaGame for game/general audio
- NovaChat for chat audio
```
python nova.py
```
This command does not generate any output, but the Sonar icon should now be visible on the base station.
To use ChatMix select NovaGame as your main audio output, and select NovaChat as the output in your voice chat software of choice.
ChatMix should now work. You can toggle between volume and ChatMix by pressing the dial.
### Use as a library
You should also be able to use nova.py as a library.
<br>
Example:
```
from nova import NovaProWireless
nova = NovaProWireless()
nova.enable_sonar_icon()
nova.enable_chatmix()
# Output all received messages
nova.print_output(True)
```
## What's Next
Currently none of this is very polished, it should work, but that's about it. I would like to make this a bit more integrated, so that it just works without having to run the python script every time.
There are also some other projects that try to make headset features work on linux, for example [HeadsetControl](https://github.com/Sapd/HeadsetControl). I might want to try and get some of this implemented in there.
I also want to figure out if this could be something that happens by default in PipeWire (or somewhere else). So that users of the headset don't need anything beside what already comes with their distribution.
While I'd like to do these things, I don't yet know if I will. Even in the current state of the project, it does work for me, so while I'd like for this to be a temporary solution, it might just stay like this.
If anyone else wants to work on these things, please do, I'd love to see it.
## License
This project is licensed under the EUROPEAN UNION PUBLIC LICENSE v. 1.2 (EUPL)

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#!/bin/bash
# These bytes enable certain features when sent to the hidraw device
# It does work without all the 0 padding, but wireshark will complain about misformed packets
CHATMIX_ENABLE="06490100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"
SONAR_ICON_ENABLE="068d0100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"
# Look in dmesg to get this. It should be the one related to input4
HIDRAWDEV=/dev/hidraw2
# Send data to enable features
printf $CHATMIX_ENABLE | xxd -r -p - | tee $HIDRAWDEV
printf $SONAR_ICON_ENABLE | xxd -r -p - | tee $HIDRAWDEV
# Example ids, you can get these with `lsusb`
BUS=1
DEVICE=2
# Read events
usbhid-dump -s $BUS:$DEVICE -f -e stream

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#!/usr/bin/python3
# Licensed under the EUPL
import subprocess
from usb.core import find, USBTimeoutError
class NovaProWireless:
# USB IDs
VID = 0x1038
PID = 0x12E0
# bInterfaceNumber
INTERFACE = 0x4
# bEndpointAddress
ENDPOINT_TX = 0x4 # EP 4 OUT
ENDPOINT_RX = 0x84 # EP 4 IN
MSGLEN = 64 # Total USB packet is 128 bytes, data is last 64 bytes.
# First byte controls data direction.
TX = 0x6 # To base station.
RX = 0x7 # From base station.
# Second Byte
# This is a very limited list of options, you can control way more. I just haven't implemented those options (yet)
## As far as I know, this only controls the icon.
OPT_SONAR_ICON = 141
## Enabling this options enables the ability to switch between volume and ChatMix.
OPT_CHATMIX_ENABLE = 73
## Volume controls, 1 byte
OPT_VOLUME = 37
## ChatMix controls, 2 bytes show and control game and chat volume.
OPT_CHATMIX = 69
## EQ controls, 2 bytes show and control which band and what value.
OPT_EQ = 49
## EQ preset controls, 1 byte sets and shows enabled preset. Preset 4 is the custom preset required for OPT_EQ.
OPT_EQ_PRESET = 46
# PipeWire Names
## Name of digital sink.
## PipeWire docs recommend the analog sink, but I've had better results with the digital one. Probably not actually, but whatever.
PW_ORIGINAL_SINK = (
"alsa_output.usb-SteelSeries_Arctis_Nova_Pro_Wireless-00.7.iec958-stereo"
)
## Names of virtual sound devices
PW_GAME_SINK = "NovaGame"
PW_CHAT_SINK = "NovaChat"
# Selects correct device, and makes sure we can control it
def __init__(self):
self.dev = find(idVendor=self.VID, idProduct=self.PID)
if self.dev is None:
raise ValueError("Device not found")
if self.dev.is_kernel_driver_active(self.INTERFACE):
self.dev.detach_kernel_driver(self.INTERFACE)
# Takes a tuple of ints and turns it into bytes with the correct length padded with zeroes
def _create_msgdata(self, data: tuple[int]) -> bytes:
return bytes(data).ljust(self.MSGLEN, b"0")
# Enables chatmix
def enable_chatmix(self):
self.dev.write(
self.ENDPOINT_TX,
self._create_msgdata((self.TX, self.OPT_CHATMIX_ENABLE, 1)),
)
# Enables Sonar Icon
def enable_sonar_icon(self):
self.dev.write(
self.ENDPOINT_TX, self._create_msgdata((self.TX, self.OPT_SONAR_ICON, 1))
)
# Sets Volume
def set_volume(self, attenuation: int):
self.dev.write(
self.ENDPOINT_TX,
self._create_msgdata((self.TX, self.OPT_VOLUME, attenuation)),
)
# Sets EQ preset
def set_eq_preset(self, preset: int):
self.dev.write(
self.ENDPOINT_TX,
self._create_msgdata((self.TX, self.OPT_EQ_PRESET, preset)),
)
# Create virtual pipewire loopback sinks, and redirect them to the real headset sink
def _enable_virtual_sinks(self):
cmd = [
"pw-loopback",
"-P",
self.PW_ORIGINAL_SINK,
"--capture-props=media.class=Audio/Sink",
"-n",
]
subprocess.Popen(cmd + [self.PW_GAME_SINK])
subprocess.Popen(cmd + [self.PW_CHAT_SINK])
# ChatMix implementation
# Continuously read from base station and ignore everything but ChatMix messages (OPT_CHATMIX)
# The .read method times out and returns an error. This error is catched and basically ignored. Timeout can be configured, but not turned off (I think).
def chatmix(self):
self._enable_virtual_sinks()
while True:
try:
msg = self.dev.read(self.ENDPOINT_RX, self.MSGLEN)
if msg[1] != self.OPT_CHATMIX:
continue
# 4th and 5th byte contain ChatMix data
gamevol = msg[2]
chatvol = msg[3]
# Set Volume using PulseAudio tools. Can be done with pure pipewire tools, but I didn't feel like it
cmd = ["pactl", "set-sink-volume"]
# Actually change volume. Everytime you turn the dial, both volumes are set to the correct level
subprocess.Popen(cmd + [f"input.{self.PW_GAME_SINK}", f"{gamevol}%"])
subprocess.Popen(cmd + [f"input.{self.PW_CHAT_SINK}", f"{chatvol}%"])
# Ignore timeout.
except USBTimeoutError:
continue
# Prints output from base station. `debug` argument enables raw output.
def print_output(self, debug: bool = False):
while True:
try:
msg = self.dev.read(self.ENDPOINT_RX, self.MSGLEN)
if debug:
print(msg)
match msg[1]:
case self.OPT_VOLUME:
print(f"Volume: -{msg[2]}")
case self.OPT_CHATMIX:
print(f"Game Volume: {msg[2]} - Chat Volume: {msg[3]}")
case self.OPT_EQ:
print(f"EQ: Bar: {msg[2]} - Value: {(msg[3] - 20) / 2}")
case self.OPT_EQ_PRESET:
print(f"EQ Preset: {msg[2]}")
case _:
print("Unknown Message")
except USBTimeoutError:
continue
# When run directly, just start the ChatMix implementation. (And activate the icon, just for fun)
if __name__ == "__main__":
nova = NovaProWireless()
nova.enable_sonar_icon()
nova.enable_chatmix()
nova.chatmix()