GitHub - emaspa/openxlr: A Wave Link replacement for Linux: a PipeWire mixer with effects and an OpenDeck plugin for any microphone, plus full control of Elgato XLR interfaces and Wave microphones

OpenXLR is a Wave Link replacement for Linux, and it works with any microphone or audio interface PipeWire can record from. Its mixer runs on PipeWire: per-application channels, virtual microphones for calls and streams, monitor mixes on any output, ducking, a microphone EQ, LV2, CLAP and VST3 plugin inserts, and an OpenDeck plugin for Stream Deck control.

On Elgato hardware OpenXLR also controls the device itself, over reverse-engineered USB protocols: gain, mute, phantom power, the onboard effects and EQ, the headphone outputs and, on the Wave XLR Pro, the output routing, a mix for a second computer on the USB Aux port and ducking on the unit's own processor.

The UI from 0.2.1 and the terminal mixer from 0.2.0, both in the Broadcast skin. This README and the linked guides describe current main; for a released build, read the docs at its release tag.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Elgato. The device protocols were decoded from Wave Link USB captures, prior open-source protocol work and tests on the author's own hardware.

Supported devices

Any microphone, headset, webcam or audio interface that PipeWire lists as a capture source works in the mixer. Bound to XLR 1 or XLR 2 (manual) it gets that strip's sends, volume, meter, EQ, insert chain and Mic setup. OpenXLR sends nothing to another brand's device, so set its preamp gain and phantom power on the device itself.

These Elgato devices also get their hardware controls over USB:

The per-control state of every device, including what is coded but not yet run on hardware, is in hardware support. If you own an untested device, open an issue with a diagnostics archive (Options, SUPPORT, Collect diagnostics).

Features

• Hardware control of the devices above. The Pro has the most: gain, mute, low cut, expander, Voice Tune and phantom power per input, ClipGuard, compressor, two headphone volumes, the mic/PC crossfade and the routing of HP1, HP2, Line Out and USB Aux. Where a device has no hardware low cut or ClipGuard, OpenXLR runs them in software.
• Submixer built from PipeWire nodes, no kernel modules: channels for the XLR inputs, Aux In, application groups and any other capture source; monitor mixes on any outputs, alone or summed; virtual microphones other apps record from. Channels and mixes are added, renamed, reordered and removed while audio plays.
• Ducking: a key microphone lowers chosen channels in chosen mixes while you speak. It runs in software on every device, and on the Pro's own processor when the setup fits what the unit can do.
• Microphone processing: a four-band EQ with Wave Link's band types and steps on XLR 1, XLR 2 and mono capture inputs, run on the unit where the hardware has one, and Mic setup, which meters the microphone before any processing and loops a recorded take through the EQ and plugins while you tune them in the same window, raw or processed at a click, with placement tips and three starting EQ presets.
• Plugin inserts: LV2, CLAP and VST3 chains on each microphone input and each mix, with native editors, generated controls and bypass. Windows VST3 and CLAP plugins run through the openxlr-yabridge package.
• Application routing: apps are matched to channels by name rules and remembered, Electron and Wine/Proton apps included. An optional Chromium companion routes individual browser tabs (browser routing).
• Profiles: named scenes of hardware settings and the whole submix, recalled from the UI, the API or a Stream Deck key, or on connect.
• OpenDeck plugin: keys and dials for every switch, mute, level, insert, output and profile, drawn with meters and status lamps.
• Daemon, UI and APIs: the daemon owns the device and the graph and keeps running with the UI closed. It serves a WebSocket API and an HTTP API on a private Unix socket authenticated by Linux peer credentials. The UI has a Flow window of signal paths, a tray icon and global shortcuts through the desktop portal.
• Terminal mixer: openxlr-tui, the whole mixer over ssh or in a tiling setup (manual).
• Omarchy bar: meters, mutes and sends in Omarchy 4's bar (omarchy.md).
• Skins: seventeen built in, among them Broadcast (the default) and Wave, which draw the mixer as a matrix of inputs and mixes. A skin is data, not code (skins.md).
• Languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, Tagalog, Cebuano and Serbian (Cyrillic) (localization).

Every control, area by area: docs/features.md.

OpenDeck plugin

Dials get a touch panel with a knob, a level meter, the value and a mute overlay; one dial can hold several targets.

Keys show an icon and a status lamp: red for a mute, green for an engaged feature or the active monitor output.

Install

Packages exist for Arch Linux, CachyOS and Omarchy (AUR), Ubuntu (PPA), Fedora (COPR) and NixOS (flake). Every release also carries a .deb and an .rpm, with SHA-256 checksums and a build provenance attestation (gh attestation verify <file> --owner emaspa).

Arch Linux, CachyOS and Omarchy, from the AUR:

yay -S openxlr        # or: paru -S openxlr
systemctl --user enable --now openxlr-daemon
openxlr               # the mixer UI, also in your application menu

On Omarchy, run openxlr-omarchy-enable once for the bar plugin.

Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04, from the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sparvoli/openxlr
sudo apt install openxlr
systemctl --user enable --now openxlr-daemon
openxlr

Fedora 44 or newer, from COPR:

sudo dnf copr enable emaspa/openxlr
sudo dnf install openxlr
systemctl --user enable --now openxlr-daemon
openxlr

Without the PPA or COPR, install the .deb or .rpm from the latest release with sudo apt install ./openxlr_*_amd64.deb or sudo dnf install ./openxlr-*.x86_64.rpm.

NixOS: add inputs.openxlr.url = "github:emaspa/openxlr"; to your system flake, then these entries to its nixosSystem.modules list:

openxlr.nixosModules.default
{ services.openxlr.enable = true; }

The module options cover LV2 plugins, software ClipGuard and the Windows bridge.

After installing, replug an Elgato device once so the udev rule applies. For the Stream Deck, install com.emaspa.openxlr.sdPlugin.zip from the release with OpenDeck's install-from-file. Plugin inserts list the LV2, CLAP and VST3 plugins you have installed (lsp-plugins-lv2 is a good start). The software ClipGuard needs swh-plugins. Windows plugins need openxlr-yabridge from the same place you got OpenXLR (manual).

Upgrading: a package upgrade takes effect once the programs restart. Reboot, or run systemctl --user restart openxlr-daemon and reopen the UI. Replug the interface only when the release says the udev rule changed.

From source: the source guide lists the prerequisites, then:

git clone https://github.com/emaspa/openxlr.git
cd openxlr
dotnet restore src/OpenXLR.slnx --locked-mode
dotnet build src/OpenXLR.slnx -c Release --no-restore -warnaserror -p:EnableNativeLv2Host=true
OPENXLR_BUILD_MIXER=1 ./src/OpenXLR.Daemon/bin/Release/net10.0/OpenXLR.Daemon
./src/OpenXLR.UI/bin/Release/net10.0/OpenXLR.UI   # in a second terminal

SteamOS and Bazzite: each release carries an experimental Flatpak, with steps for Desktop Mode and Game Mode in flatpak.md. OpenXLR will not be published on Flathub, whose rules do not allow AI-assisted development.

Limitations

• Another brand's microphone or interface gets the mixer, not its hardware controls.
• On the Pro, the unit's ducking runs only on the headphone jacks and only keyed by XLR 1; other setups duck in software. The mix maximizer, the channel booster and mixing on the unit itself are not available yet.
• Routing the focused application asks KDE Plasma's KWin which window has focus, so that key works on Plasma only.
• Windows plugins depend on Wine and yabridge. An editor that misbehaves there can be swapped for OpenXLR's generated controls.

What's next

The roadmap has the order. In short: user reports and hardware checks of the 0.2 features first, then the microphone EQ in the terminal mixer and on the Stream Deck, then a hardware mixing mode on the Wave XLR Pro, which builds the mixes in the unit for Wave Link's per-channel ducking.

Documentation

The documentation index lists every guide. The main ones: the manual, features, hardware support, the WebSocket API and HTTP API, skins, the architecture and the Wave XLR Pro protocol.

Community and issues

Support, hardware reports and release news are on Discord, on r/OpenXLR and in GitHub issues. To report an issue, open Options, SUPPORT, Collect diagnostics: it writes ~/openxlr-diagnostics-<timestamp>.tar.gz with the device state, the PipeWire graph, logs and configs. Nothing is uploaded; attach it yourself. To contribute, read CONTRIBUTING.md.

Credits

• Emanuele Sparvoli: author, maintainer and code.
• Carina Schoppe: maintainer and code.
• Michael Brooks: code and hardware testing.
• BenjyEX3: hardware testing.
• chromacurse: hardware testing.
• Astros52: hardware testing.
• marv4u: hardware testing and protocol research.
• rikkichy: prior protocol research.
• nekename: upstream software.
• FrostyCoolSlug: technical guidance.
• All the various community testers (thank you!): hardware and packaging testing.

Status

Developed and used daily by the author with a Wave XLR Pro, an XLR Dock, an XLR Dock MK.2, a Wave:3 and a Stream Deck + XL. Community testers verified the Wave XLR and Wave XLR MK.2. Setups without Elgato hardware are covered by tests against a private PipeWire server with simulated sources.

The code is written by the two maintainers, with AI tooling (Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's Codex) assisting with capture analysis, UI design and parts of the coding. The person who opens a pull request is its author and answers for every line of it (AGENTS.md). Every hardware finding was verified on a real device.

License

GPL-3.0. If you find OpenXLR useful, consider buying me a coffee or supporting it on Ko-fi.