Not stable yet. WolOS is in active development and the current ISO is a test build: try it in a virtual machine or on a spare disk, not on a computer you depend on.

WolOS

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Everyday use

Sound for creators

Recording, streaming and producing: buffers, OBS, a separate game track, DAWs.

On this page

What it is

What works out of the box for people who record, stream or produce, what one command adds, and the three things to know before a session.

Why

Creators need two things from sound that everyday users do not: tiny buffers while monitoring, and separate tracks for the game and the voice. Both are choices, so they are switches, not defaults.

How

Run wol audio doctor first. Pick the buffer for the job in Settings > Sound > Pro Audio, and use wol audio appmix on when a game and a voice need their own tracks.

If something goes wrong

What you seeWhat to do
The microphone clipsRun wol audio doctor; it names the input level and the fix. Keep the slider at or below 100% unless you need Allow Louder.
Dropouts while monitoringRaise the buffer in Settings > Sound > Pro Audio (64 frames for monitoring through a DAW, 256 for a stream).
OBS does not see the game audioRun wol audio appmix on, send the game to WolOS App Mix, and capture it in OBS. wol audio appmix status says which pieces exist.
Flatpak OBS cannot reach soundflatpak override --user --filesystem=xdg-run/pipewire-0 com.obsproject.Studio; the native package is simpler.

Sound · Optional modules (Creative)

Reference

What works out of the box on WolOS, what one command adds, and the three things to know before a session. The rules behind it are in modules/audio.md.

Before you record

  1. 100% is 0 dB. The input slider's top is the microphone's nominal level, not the hardware maximum. If a mic is quiet at 100%, turn on Allow louder in Settings > Sound > Input and watch the meter; red means clipping.
  2. Check the stack: wol audio doctor. It names the default input's level in dB, dropouts, forced buffers and the OBS pieces, each with the fix.
  3. Pick the buffer for the job in Settings > Sound > Pro Audio: 64 frames (1.3 ms) for monitoring through a DAW, 256 for a stream, automatic for everything else. The choice is written to ~/.config/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/50-wolos-pro-audio.conf and applied live; it survives a reboot and wol audio reset removes it.

OBS Studio

Install OBS (pacman -S obs-studio) and the PipeWire audio capture plugin (pacman -S obs-pipewire-audio-capture, from the [wolos] repo). The plugin adds three sources: Application Audio Capture (one app, picked by name), Desktop Audio Capture (what the speakers play) and Audio Input Capture (PipeWire). Screen and window capture use the compositor's portal (xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland): OBS asks, you pick.

Game audio and voice on separate tracks. wol audio appmix on creates an output called WolOS App Mix and a source called Mic + App Mix:

  • send the game or the browser to WolOS App Mix (Settings > Sound > Apps, or the app's own output picker); you still hear it on your speakers or headset;
  • in OBS add Application Audio Capture on WolOS App Mix for the game track and Audio Input Capture on your microphone for the voice track, or one Audio Input Capture on Mic + App Mix when a single mixed track is enough.

wol audio appmix off removes both; wol audio appmix status says which exists. They are pipewire-pulse modules, so they go away with a logout too.

Flatpak OBS needs the PipeWire socket: flatpak override --user --filesystem=xdg-run/pipewire-0 com.obsproject.Studio. The native package is simpler.

Voice: automatic level and noise

Settings > Sound > Input has two switches. Automatic input level puts WebRTC gain control, noise suppression and echo cancel in front of the microphone; the result is a new input, WolOS Microphone, which becomes the default so every app uses it. Reduce background noise adds the RNNoise filter (noise-suppression-for-voice, on the image) and shows up as WolOS Microphone (noise reduced). Both are loaded only while switched on. For OBS, pick the processed input as your microphone source.

DAWs and JACK apps

pipewire-jack is the JACK on the image: Ardour, Reaper, Bitwig, Carla and friends see PipeWire as a JACK server with the buffer you chose in Pro Audio. Realtime scheduling comes from rtkit, and members of the audio group have rtprio 95 / memlock unlimited directly (/etc/security/limits.d/70-wolos-audio.conf). A USB interface keeps its hardware mixer (preamp gain in the interface's own knob), and its card can be switched to the Pro Audio profile in Settings > Sound > Pro Audio, which exposes every channel raw and bypasses the automatic routing.

Sample rate: the graph runs at 48 kHz but follows 44.1, 88.2 and 96 kHz streams instead of resampling them; force one in Pro Audio for a whole session. Dropouts show as xruns in Pro Audio and in wol audio doctor; the fix is a larger buffer, another USB port, or a powered hub.

Bluetooth headsets

The best codec the headset offers wins (LDAC, aptX HD, aptX, AAC, SBC-XQ). Recording through a Bluetooth headset switches it to the call profile (HFP, lower quality) only while an app records, and back afterwards; turn Switch to headset mode for calls off in Settings > Sound if you prefer to keep music quality and use another microphone. The codec can be chosen per device.

When something is wrong

  • wol audio doctor: the checks and the fixes.
  • wol audio reset: shows what a reset would do; wol audio reset --yes forgets stored defaults and volumes, removes the Pro Audio file and restarts PipeWire. Your apps reconnect by themselves.
  • Settings > Sound > Troubleshooting has the same reset, Keep device awake (for amplifiers that click when PipeWire suspends them) and Ignore hardware volume (software volume for a device whose mixer lies).
SoundGames

Reference synced from wonderlandos/wolos docs/creators-audio.md.