MicStudio

High-performance, minimal native Rust audio studio, voice preset manager, and real-time DSP pipeline for PipeWire.

Quick Start

# 1. Install dependencies and build
cargo build --release && cp target/release/micstudio ~/.local/bin/

# 2. Verify PipeWire virtual mic and LADSPA plugins
micstudio doctor

# 3. Launch interactive studio TUI
micstudio

Core Philosophy & Architecture

MicStudio is engineered for low-latency, transparent audio processing on Linux workstations and gaming laptops (CachyOS / Arch / Fedora):

• Single Persistent Virtual Microphone (ghelper-audio): Games (Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, etc.), Discord, OBS, and recording applications capture exclusively from one persistent virtual source (ghelper-audio). You never need to switch input devices in applications when toggling between broadcast speech and creative presets.
• Graph-Stable Preset Switching: Voice modifications (pitch shifting, formant preservation, tube saturation, ring modulation, lo-fi decimation) update live inside the DSP processing engine without tearing down PipeWire nodes or disconnecting active capture streams.
• Universal DPDFNet Neural AI Denoising: Deep neural noise suppression active by default across all presets, eliminating mechanical keyboard clatter, laptop fan hum, and room noise without degrading speech clarity.
• Anti-Shout Guard & Safety Limiting: Compressor and true peak limiter at a -2.0 dBFS ceiling protect against clipping distortion during loud callouts or intense gaming moments.
• Quiet Voice Boost: Low-level speech leveling (+4.0 dB default) ensures quiet whispers and calm tactical callouts remain crisp and audible without amplifying the background noise floor.
• Resource Discipline: Native Rust architecture with zero Electron or web runtime overhead. Resource consumption remains below 1.5% CPU (measured on ASUS TUF F16 Intel i5-13450HX, Natural Clean preset) and under 40 MB resident RAM.

Live Audio Controls

MicStudio exposes 7 real-time audio parameters in the interactive TUI (cycle via Tab or Shift+J/Shift+K, adjust via h/l or ←/→):

Installation & Requirements

Compatibility

• OS: Linux only (CachyOS, Arch Linux, Fedora, Ubuntu 24.04+).
• Audio Server: PipeWire (>= 0.3.49) with WirePlumber. Standalone PulseAudio and JACK-only setups without PipeWire are unsupported.
• Display Server: Fully compatible with both Wayland (Sway, Hyprland, GNOME, KDE Plasma) and X11 (i3, bspwm).

Package Dependencies

Arch Linux / CachyOS:

# Core audio server, plugins, and dependencies
sudo pacman -S pipewire wireplumber lsp-plugins swh-plugins calf rubberband

# DPDFNet neural noise suppression LADSPA plugin
yay -S hushmic-bin

[!NOTE] DPDFNet Neural Model Source: The DPDFNet neural model is bundled directly inside hushmic-bin (/usr/lib/ladspa/libdpdfnet_ladspa.so). The ONNX neural weights are embedded in the shared library; no manual model downloads, Python runtimes, or external checkpoints are required.

Fedora Linux:

sudo dnf install pipewire wireplumber lsp-plugins-ladspa calf ladspa-swh-plugins rubberband

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/kmanisk/micstudio.git
cd micstudio
cargo build --release
install -m 755 target/release/micstudio ~/.local/bin/micstudio

First Run & PipeWire Setup

MicStudio interfaces with PipeWire via a virtual filter-chain source node named ghelper-audio.

1. Ensure the PipeWire microphone filter-chain configuration is present at ~/.config/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/40-mic.conf.
2. Reload PipeWire:

   systemctl --user restart pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber
   

3. Run diagnostic validation:

   micstudio doctor
   

   If all stages report [✓ PASS], ghelper-audio is active and ready as your default recording device.

Interactive Terminal UI (TUI)

Launch the interface from any terminal emulator (kitty, alacritty, foot, wezterm):

micstudio

Keybindings Reference

Headless CLI Subcommands

MicStudio can be automated via headless CLI commands and shell scripts:

# Check current audio engine and virtual microphone status
micstudio status

# Immediately switch to Natural Clean broadcast microphone
micstudio clean

# Reset voice presets to factory baseline
micstudio reset                   # Resets active Natural Clean settings (+4dB boost, 45dB denoise, 0dB gain)
micstudio reset all               # Resets all 27 voice models and clean mic to factory defaults
micstudio reset "Deep Voice"      # Resets specific model parameters to factory defaults

# Switch voice preset
micstudio voice "Deep Voice"
micstudio voice "Robot"
micstudio voice off               # Disables creative FX, keeps clean broadcast

# Adjust Quiet Voice Boost leveling
micstudio boost 4                 # Set boost to +4 dB
micstudio boost off               # Disable quiet speech leveling

# Sidetone monitoring (headphones only; protected against speaker feedback)
micstudio hear on
micstudio hear off

# Diagnostic verification of PipeWire nodes and hardware
micstudio doctor

# Standalone real-time audio spectrograph
micstudio spectrograph
micstudio spectrograph --waterfall

# Offline Audio Lab (deterministic rendering and verification)
micstudio render --preset "Deep Voice" -i input.wav -o output.wav
micstudio verify --preset "Deep Voice"

Signal Chain

flowchart LR
    A["Microphone Input<br/>(e.g., ALC256 / USB Audio)"] --> B["HPF<br/>(80 Hz Rumble Cut)"]
    B --> C["DPDFNet Neural AI<br/>(Denoising LADSPA)"]
    C --> D["LSP Parametric EQ<br/>(Vocal Presence)"]
    D --> E["LADSPA FX Stage<br/>(Pitch / Saturation / RingMod)"]
    E --> F["Leveler Compressor<br/>(Quiet Voice Boost)"]
    F --> G["Anti-Shout Limiter<br/>(-2.0 dBFS Ceiling)"]
    G --> H["Persistent Virtual Mic<br/>(ghelper-audio)"]

Included Voice Preset Library

MicStudio includes 27 tuned voice models categorized for gaming, broadcasting, and tactical voice chat:

Broadcast & Natural

• Natural Clean: Direct broadcast speech with 45 dB DPDFNet suppression and +4.0 dB Quiet Voice Boost.
• Studio Broadcast: Enhanced vocal clarity with presence boost at 2.8 kHz for podcasting and streaming.
• Warm Radio: Rich low-end proximity boost reminiscent of vintage FM broadcast microphones.
• Podcast Pro: Multi-band vocal leveling with polished broadcast compression.
• Crisp High-Pass: Brightened speech tailored to cut through noisy game audio.
• Bass Booster: Sub-fundamental enhancement providing deep low-end resonance.

Characters

• Deep Voice: -4 semitone formant-aligned pitch drop for an authoritative vocal profile.
• Darth Vader: Heavy mechanical pitch drop combined with modulated acoustic resonance.
• Ghostface: Distorted telephone-bandwidth pitch shift with subtle vocal rasp.
• Cyberpunk Soldier: Tactical armored comms with mild overdrive and pitch modulation.
• Giant: Deep sub-bass resonance with extended spatial presence.
• Goblin: High-register pitch shift with emphasized nasal upper harmonics.
• Demon Lord: Dual-octave pitch blend with dark harmonic overdrive.
• Orc Warlord: Low-frequency growl with saturated mid-range punch.

Sci-Fi & Cyber

• Robot: Fast ring modulation delivering a classic synthetic metallic cadence.
• Cyborg Vocalizer: Multi-stage vocoder blending speech with robotic carrier frequencies.
• Helldiver Radio: Bandpass comms filter with aggressive limiter punch and simulated military RF choke.
• Alien Choir: Multi-voice harmonic shimmer with subtle detuned chorus.
• Stutter Glitch: Rhythmic DSP gate chop effect creating a synthetic stuttered vocal.
• Ring Modulator: Frequency modulation producing disharmonic sci-fi tones.

Retro & Comms

• Walkie-Talkie: Restricted 400 Hz – 3.5 kHz bandwidth with squelch distortion and radio noise.
• Telephone 80s: Vintage carbon-mic telephony bandpass with narrow mid-band presence.
• Intercom PA: Public address system emulation with high acoustic reflection and harsh mid-range.
• Lo-Fi Radio: 8-bit sample reduction with warm band-limited analog roll-off.
• Helicopter Pilot: Harsh aviation headset equalization with rotor-cockpit compression.

Creative FX

• Ethereal Space: Wide ambient reverb tail with spacious spatial diffusion.
• Cosmic Flanger: Sweeping multi-phase flanger producing jet-engine vocal modulation.

[!NOTE] Character and title names (Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, Helldivers, Darth Vader, Ghostface) are used strictly for descriptive sound-design reference. MicStudio is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any trademark holders.

Configuration & File Locations

Latency & Performance

• Model Context Latency: The DPDFNet neural model operates with an 80 ms context window to perform speech separation without temporal artifacts.
• DSP Processing Overhead: Built-in biquad filters, LSP parametric EQ, and limiter stages add < 1 ms of algorithmic latency.
• Sidetone Latency: The Hear Voice monitoring loop links directly from ghelper-audio to the active playback sink through PipeWire, introducing zero additional buffer latency.
• Acoustic Feedback Protection: Sidetone monitoring automatically suppresses loopback when the default sink is set to built-in laptop speakers (analog-stereo), preventing infinite feedback loops.

Troubleshooting

Run Hardware & Stack Doctor

micstudio doctor

Common Issues

1. Virtual microphone ghelper-audio not showing in Discord, OBS, or Steam:

   • Verify 40-mic.conf is loaded:

     pw-dump Node | grep -i ghelper-audio
     

   • Restart PipeWire user service:

     systemctl --user restart pipewire wireplumber
     

2. Error loading DPDFNet LADSPA plugin (libdpdfnet_ladspa.so not found):

   • Ensure hushmic-bin is installed:

     ls -l /usr/lib/ladspa/libdpdfnet_ladspa.so
     

3. No audio in Sidetone (v key):

   • Sidetone requires headphones or a Bluetooth A2DP headset. To protect your hearing and hardware, MicStudio automatically disengages sidetone if output is routed through built-in laptop speakers.

Testing & Verification

MicStudio includes a test suite covering DSP algorithms, clipping detection, audio routing, and TUI layouts:

cargo test

• DSP Pipeline Tests: Validates brickwall limiter compliance, hermite resampler accuracy, quiet voice boost compression math, and zero voice duplication.
• Audio Clipping Tests: Differentiates between analog hardware ADC clipping (rail saturation) and digital safety limiting (-2.0 dBFS).
• TUI Layout Tests: Validates terminal rendering across 80x24 minimal resolution, responsive scaling, search navigation, and modal rendering without panic.

Roadmap & Contributing

• Custom LADSPA chain authoring directly from presets.toml.
• CLI --json output format for status and live audio metrics.
• Automated audio quality and latency benchmark suite.

Pull requests and issue reports are welcome on GitHub. Please ensure cargo test passes prior to submitting PRs.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.