Editing Openai/6965e6ad-3360-8002-8595-a24e4bc1fbe0 (section)

=== Assistant: This is a very common CachyOS plus Discord plus PipeWire issue, and the symptoms you described line up cleanly. ===
This is a very common CachyOS plus Discord plus PipeWire issue, and the symptoms you described line up cleanly. Here is a structured way to diagnose and fix it, starting with the most likely causes.

==== What is probably happening ====
# CachyOS uses PipeWire by default.
# Discord on Linux is extremely sensitive to PipeWire state and permissions.
# Error 3002 usually means Discord cannot access the audio graph, not that the mic is broken.
# Vesktop showing no input devices at all indicates PipeWire is either: - not running correctly, or - running but missing the ALSA bridge, or - blocked by a stale Discord permission cache.

The “mic sounds like a microwave” comment earlier strongly suggests PipeWire was already misconfigured or running with wrong sample rates.

==== Step 1: Verify PipeWire is actually healthy ====

Run these commands:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">systemctl --user status pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber

</syntaxhighlight>

You should see all three as active (running).

If any are missing or failed:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">systemctl --user restart pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber

</syntaxhighlight>

Then log out and log back in.

==== Step 2: Make sure required audio packages are installed ====

On CachyOS, these must exist:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">sudo pacman -S --needed pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-pulse wireplumber

</syntaxhighlight>

If pipewire-alsa is missing, microphones often vanish entirely.

==== Step 3: Check if the system sees your microphone at all ====

Run:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">pw-cli ls Node | grep -i input

</syntaxhighlight>

or

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">arecord -l

</syntaxhighlight>

If no capture devices appear, this is not a Discord issue yet. It means the kernel or PipeWire does not see the mic.

If the mic does appear here but not in Discord or Vesktop, continue.

==== Step 4: Reset Discord and Vesktop audio permissions ====

Discord caches broken permissions aggressively.

Close Discord and Vesktop completely.

Then delete their configs:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">rm -rf ~/.config/discord
rm -rf ~/.config/Vesktop
rm -rf ~/.cache/discord
rm -rf ~/.cache/Vesktop

</syntaxhighlight>

Now relaunch only one of them first. Prefer Vesktop initially.

==== Step 5: Force correct audio backend in Vesktop ====

In Vesktop settings:
* Audio subsystem: PipeWire
* Disable all noise suppression
* Disable echo cancellation
* Set input device explicitly, not “Default”

If Vesktop still shows zero devices after Step 3 succeeded, PipeWire permissions are broken.

==== Step 6: Check WirePlumber permissions ====

Run:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">ls ~/.local/state/wireplumber

</syntaxhighlight>

If this directory exists but looks empty or corrupted, reset it:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">rm -rf ~/.local/state/wireplumber
systemctl --user restart wireplumber

</syntaxhighlight>

Log out and back in again.

==== Step 7: Sample rate fix for robotic audio ====

If the mic comes back but sounds distorted:

Create or edit:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">~/.config/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/99-samplerate.conf

</syntaxhighlight>

Add:

<syntaxhighlight lang="ini">context.properties = {
    default.clock.rate = 48000
    default.clock.allowed-rates = [ 48000 ]
}

</syntaxhighlight>

Then restart audio:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">systemctl --user restart pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber

</syntaxhighlight>

Discord hates mismatched sample rates.

==== Step 8: Wayland specific note ====

If you are on KDE Wayland, ensure:
* Discord is not launched with --enable-features=WebRTCPipeWireCapturer
* Vesktop is preferred, since it handles Wayland better

Also check KDE mic permissions:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">kcmshell6 kcm_privacy

</syntaxhighlight>

Make sure microphone access is enabled globally.

==== Summary of most likely fix ====

In order of probability:
# Missing pipewire-alsa
# Corrupt WirePlumber state
# Discord cached broken PipeWire permissions
# Sample rate mismatch

If you want, tell me:
* USB mic vs onboard audio
* KDE X11 or Wayland
* Output of arecord -l

I can narrow this down to a single fix instead of shotgun troubleshooting.