DeepFilterNet Installation Script for Linux (PipeWire)

README.md

DeepFilterNet Installation Script for PipeWire

This script installs the DeepFilterNet LADSPA plugin system-wide in Linux (Like Ubuntu) and configures it as a virtual microphone with noise cancellation in PipeWire.

Usage:

1. Download the appropriate library for your architecture from this repo:

https://github.com/Rikorose/DeepFilterNet/releases

2. Download the gist and run it.

chmod +x ./install-deepfilter.sh

./install-deepfilter.sh [path-to-libdeep_filter_ladspa.so]

3.In your system’s Sound settings: Choose “DeepFilter Microphone” for system-wide input.

install-deepfilter.sh

#!/bin/bash

################################################################################
# DeepFilterNet Installation Script for PipeWire
# 
# This script installs DeepFilterNet LADSPA plugin system-wide and configures
# it as a virtual microphone with noise cancellation in PipeWire.
#
# Usage: bash install-deepfilter.sh [path-to-libdeep_filter_ladspa.so]
#
# If no path is provided, the script will look for the .so file in:
#   - Current directory
#   - ~/Downloads
#   - Common download locations
#
# Author: Amin Nezampour
# Date: 2025-11-06
################################################################################

set -euo pipefail

RED='\033[0;31m'
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
BLUE='\033[0;34m'
NC='\033[0m'

# Configuration
LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH="$HOME/.ladspa/libdeep_filter_ladspa.so"
PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_DIR="$HOME/.config/pipewire/filter-chain.conf.d"
PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_FILE="$PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_DIR/50-deepfilter-mic.conf"

################################################################################
# Helper Functions
################################################################################

print_header() {
    echo -e "${BLUE}=================================================================================${NC}"
    echo -e "${BLUE}$1${NC}"
    echo -e "${BLUE}=================================================================================${NC}"
}

print_success() {
    echo -e "${GREEN}✓ $1${NC}"
}

print_error() {
    echo -e "${RED}✗ $1${NC}"
}

print_info() {
    echo -e "${YELLOW}ℹ $1${NC}"
}

print_step() {
    echo -e "\n${BLUE}→ $1${NC}"
}

exit_error() {
    print_error "$1"
    exit 1
}

################################################################################
# Requirement Checks
################################################################################

check_requirements() {
    print_step "Checking system requirements..."
    
    if [[ "$OSTYPE" != "linux-gnu"* ]]; then
        exit_error "This script only works on Linux"
    fi
    print_success "Running on Linux"

    if command -v pactl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    if ! pactl info 2>/dev/null | grep -qi "pipewire"; then
            exit_error "PipeWire does not appear to be the active audio server. 'pactl info' did not report PipeWire. Please install/configure PipeWire so it's the active audio server:
            - Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber
            - Fedora: sudo dnf install pipewire pipewire-pulseaudio wireplumber
            - Arch: sudo pacman -S pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber"
        fi
    else
    if ! command -v wpctl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
            exit_error "Neither 'pactl' nor 'wpctl' were found. Please install PipeWire and its clients:
            - Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber
            - Fedora: sudo dnf install pipewire pipewire-pulseaudio wireplumber
            - Arch: sudo pacman -S pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber"
        fi
    fi
    print_success "PipeWire is installed"
    
    if ! systemctl --user is-active --quiet pipewire; then
        print_info "PipeWire is not running. Attempting to start it..."
        systemctl --user start pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber || \
            exit_error "Could not start PipeWire services"
    fi
    print_success "PipeWire is running"
    
    print_step "Checking for PipeWire filter-chain module..."

    if command -v shopt >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        shopt -s nullglob globstar || true
    fi

    local candidates=(
        /usr/lib/**/libpipewire-module-filter-chain.so
        /usr/lib64/**/libpipewire-module-filter-chain.so
        /lib/**/libpipewire-module-filter-chain.so
        /usr/lib/*/pipewire-*/libpipewire-module-filter-chain.so
        /usr/lib64/*/pipewire-*/libpipewire-module-filter-chain.so
    )

    local found=""
    for f in "${candidates[@]}"; do
        if [[ -f "$f" ]]; then
            found="$f"
            break
        fi
    done

    if [[ -z "$found" ]] && command -v ldconfig >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        found=$(ldconfig -p 2>/dev/null | awk '/libpipewire-module-filter-chain.so/ {print $NF; exit}') || true
    fi

    if [[ -z "$found" ]]; then
        exit_error "PipeWire filter-chain module not found. Install pipewire-plugins (or the package that provides libpipewire-module-filter-chain.so) and try again:
            - Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install pipewire-plugins
            - Fedora: sudo dnf install pipewire-plugins
            - Arch: sudo pacman -S pipewire"
    fi

    print_success "PipeWire filter-chain module found: $found"
}

################################################################################
# Find and Validate .so File
################################################################################

find_libdeep_filter() {
    local provided_path="$1"
    
    if [[ -n "$provided_path" && -f "$provided_path" ]]; then
        echo "$provided_path"
        return 0
    fi
    
    local search_paths=(
        "."
        "$HOME/Downloads"
        "$HOME/Downloads/libdeep_filter_ladspa*"
        "/tmp/libdeep_filter_ladspa*"
    )
    
    for path in "${search_paths[@]}"; do
        if [[ -f "$path" ]]; then
            echo "$path"
            return 0
        fi
        for file in $path; do
            if [[ -f "$file" ]]; then
                echo "$file"
                return 0
            fi
        done
    done
    
    return 1
}

validate_so_file() {
    local so_file="$1"
    
    if [[ ! -f "$so_file" ]]; then
        exit_error "File not found: $so_file"
    fi
    
    if ! file "$so_file" | grep -q "ELF.*x86-64"; then
        exit_error "Invalid or incompatible binary: $so_file (expected x86-64 ELF)"
    fi
    print_success "Validated .so file: $so_file"
    
    print_step "Checking library dependencies..."
    if ldd "$so_file" | grep -q "not found"; then
        print_error "Missing dependencies detected:"
        ldd "$so_file" | grep "not found"
        exit_error "Please install missing libraries and try again"
    fi
    print_success "All dependencies are available"
}

################################################################################
# Installation
################################################################################

install_ladspa_plugin() {
    local so_file="$1"
    
    print_step "Installing DeepFilter LADSPA plugin to user directory..."

    if [[ ! -d "$HOME/.ladspa" ]]; then
        print_info "Creating $HOME/.ladspa directory..."
        mkdir -p "$HOME/.ladspa"
    fi
    
    print_info "Copying $so_file to $LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH..."
    install -Dm644 "$so_file" "$LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH" || \
        exit_error "Failed to install LADSPA plugin to $LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH"
    print_success "LADSPA plugin installed to $LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH"
    
    if [[ -f "$LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH" ]]; then
        print_success "Installation verified: $LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH"
    else
        exit_error "Installation verification failed"
    fi
}

################################################################################
# PipeWire Configuration
################################################################################

create_pipewire_config() {
    print_step "Creating PipeWire filter-chain configuration..."
    
    mkdir -p "$PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_DIR" || \
        exit_error "Failed to create config directory: $PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_DIR"
    
    cat > "$PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_FILE" << EOF
# DeepFilterNet Noise Canceling Microphone
#
# This configuration creates a virtual microphone source that applies
# real-time noise cancellation to your physical microphone input.
#
# The DeepFilter LADSPA plugin processes audio in mono, removing background noise
# with an attenuation limit of 100 dB (maximum noise suppression).

context.modules = [
    { name = libpipewire-module-filter-chain
        args = {
            node.description = "DeepFilter Microphone"
            media.name       = "DeepFilter Microphone"

            # Define the audio processing filter graph
            filter.graph = {
                nodes = [
                    {
                        type   = ladspa
                        name   = "DeepFilter Mono"
                        plugin = $LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH
                        label  = deep_filter_mono
                        control = {
                            # Attenuation Limit in dB:
                            # 100 = maximum noise suppression (default)
                            # 24-18 = medium noise reduction
                            # 12-6 = light noise reduction
                            "Attenuation Limit (dB)" 100
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }

            # Audio configuration
            audio.rate = 48000
            audio.channels = 1
            audio.position = [ MONO ]

            # Capture properties: listen to the default system microphone
            capture.props = {
                node.name = "deep_filter_mic_input"
                node.passive = true
                # Optional: specify a particular microphone if auto-connect fails
                # node.target = "alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo"
            }

            # Playback properties: expose as a new virtual microphone to applications
            playback.props = {
                node.name = "deep_filter_mic_output"
                media.class = Audio/Source
                node.autoconnect = true
            }
        }
    }
]
EOF
    
    if [[ -f "$PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_FILE" ]]; then
        print_success "PipeWire configuration created: $PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_FILE"
    else
        exit_error "Failed to create PipeWire configuration"
    fi
}

################################################################################
# PipeWire Restart
################################################################################

restart_pipewire() {
    print_step "Restarting PipeWire to load the configuration..."
    
    systemctl --user daemon-reload || \
        exit_error "Failed to reload systemd user daemon"
    
    systemctl --user restart wireplumber pipewire pipewire-pulse || \
        exit_error "Failed to restart PipeWire services"
    
    print_success "PipeWire restarted"
    print_info "Waiting for services to initialize (3 seconds)..."
    sleep 3
}

################################################################################
# Verification
################################################################################

verify_installation() {
    print_step "Verifying DeepFilter Microphone installation..."
    
    if [[ ! -f "$LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH" ]]; then
        print_error "LADSPA plugin not found at: $LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH"
        return 1
    fi
    print_success "LADSPA plugin exists"
    
    if [[ ! -f "$PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_FILE" ]]; then
        print_error "PipeWire config not found at: $PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_FILE"
        return 1
    fi
    print_success "PipeWire configuration exists"
    
    print_step "Checking if DeepFilter Microphone is available..."
    if wpctl status 2>/dev/null | grep -q "DeepFilter Microphone"; then
        print_success "DeepFilter Microphone is available in PipeWire"
        
        echo -e "\n${BLUE}Available audio sources:${NC}"
        wpctl status 2>/dev/null | sed -n '/Sources:/,/Source endpoints:/p' | head -20
        return 0
    else
        print_error "DeepFilter Microphone not found in PipeWire"
        print_info "Check PipeWire logs for errors:"
        print_info "  journalctl --user -u pipewire -n 50"
        print_info "  journalctl --user -u wireplumber -n 50"
        return 1
    fi
}

################################################################################
# Usage Instructions
################################################################################

print_usage_instructions() {
    print_header "DeepFilter Installation Complete!"
    
    cat << EOF

The DeepFilter Microphone is now installed and available on your system.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

HOW TO USE:

1. Set as Default Microphone (Optional):
   $ wpctl set-default <SOURCE_ID>
   
   Find the SOURCE_ID from:
   $ wpctl status

2. Use in Applications:
   - Video conferencing (Zoom, Discord, Teams, etc.): Select "DeepFilter Microphone"
   - Sound settings: Choose "DeepFilter Microphone" as the input device
   - Command line recording:
     $ pw-cat --record --target "DeepFilter Microphone" output.wav

3. Test the Configuration:
   $ pw-cat --record --target "DeepFilter Microphone" /tmp/dfn-test.wav
   $ pw-cat --playback /tmp/dfn-test.wav

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONFIGURATION:

Plugin Location:
    $LADSPA_INSTALL_PATH

PipeWire Configuration:
    $PIPEWIRE_CONFIG_FILE

To Adjust Noise Attenuation (in the config file):
  "Attenuation Limit (dB)" 100  (100 = max suppression, default)
  "Attenuation Limit (dB)" 24   (medium reduction)
  "Attenuation Limit (dB)" 12   (light reduction)

After editing the config, restart PipeWire:
  $ systemctl --user restart wireplumber pipewire pipewire-pulse

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

TROUBLESHOOTING:

1. DeepFilter Microphone Not Appearing:
   $ journalctl --user -u pipewire -n 50
   $ journalctl --user -u wireplumber -n 50

2. Silent or No Audio:
   - Check if the real microphone is working:
     $ pw-cat --record /tmp/test.wav
   - Ensure PipeWire routes correctly:
     $ pw-cli ls Node | grep -i deepfilter

3. If You Need to Specify Your Microphone:
   Edit the config file and uncomment/modify the capture node.target property.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

EOF
}

################################################################################
# Main Execution
################################################################################

main() {
    print_header "DeepFilterNet Installation for PipeWire"
    
    SO_FILE="${1:-}"
    
    check_requirements
    
    print_step "Locating DeepFilter LADSPA plugin..."
    if SO_FILE=$(find_libdeep_filter "$SO_FILE"); then
        print_success "Found: $SO_FILE"
    else
        exit_error "Could not find libdeep_filter_ladspa.so
        
Please provide the path as an argument:
    bash $0 /path/to/libdeep_filter_ladspa.so

Or place it in one of these locations:
    - Current directory
    - $HOME/Downloads
    - /tmp"
    fi
    
    validate_so_file "$SO_FILE"
    
    install_ladspa_plugin "$SO_FILE"
    
    create_pipewire_config
    
    restart_pipewire
    
    if verify_installation; then
        print_usage_instructions
        print_success "Installation completed successfully!"
        exit 0
    else
        print_error "Installation completed but verification failed"
        print_info "Please check the logs and try restarting PipeWire manually:
    systemctl --user restart wireplumber pipewire pipewire-pulse"
        exit 1
    fi
}

main "$@"