Helvum

What Helvum is

Helvum is a free graphical patchbay for PipeWire on Linux. It lets users create or remove connections between applications and devices to route audio, video, and MIDI data. Its GTK-based interface is inspired by the JACK tool Catia. Helvum is available as a free Linux Flatpak through Flathub, with builds for x86_64 and aarch64. The Flathub package is community-provided and marked unverified; the listing says it is not affiliated with or supported by the developers named there, Tom A. Wagner and Naveen Prashanth. The project README identifies GPL3 as its license. For manual compilation, the README lists Meson, Rust, libclang 3.7 or higher, GTK 4.0, and PipeWire 0.3 development headers as dependencies. It recommends building through Flatpak to handle dependencies and avoid problems from differing system configurations. Volume control and a debug mode for advanced node and port information are listed as planned features. The listed plan costs nothing, and there is no free trial.

Who it suits

Helvum suits Linux users who want a visual way to route audio, video, or MIDI connections between PipeWire applications and devices. It may also suit users comfortable with Flatpak or manual compilation.

Getting started

1. Visit the Helvum project website.
2. Install the free Linux Flatpak from Flathub, choosing the build for x86_64 or aarch64.
3. Alternatively, compile manually with Meson, Rust, libclang 3.7 or higher, GTK 4.0, and PipeWire 0.3 development headers.
4. Use the patchbay to create or remove connections between applications and devices.

Verdict

Helvum provides a free visual patchbay for managing PipeWire connections on Linux. Note that the Flathub package is marked unverified and that volume control and debug mode are planned, not listed as current features.