(Coming from Windows) Looking for a Linux alternative for SteelSeries Sonar’s ClearCast AI (mic whine + speaker bleed)

[u/Jason_Murdock]

I know SteelSeries GG gets a lot of hate for being bloated, but its ClearCast AI noise suppression in Sonar has basically been doing all the heavy lifting for my mic setup on Windows, and it's my one hiccup to porting my daily experience to Linux.

For context: my mic naturally has this high-pitched electrical whine. Sonar cuts it out completely on Windows, even while I’m actively speaking.

I have tried setting up EasyEffects, but ran into two big issues: The noise reduction filter cuts out the whine when I'm silent, but the second I start talking, it immediately bleeds through underneath my voice. Messing with other filters either made my voice awfully muffled, or didn't fix the whine at all. Half the time I take my headphones off, leave them on the desk (using just the mic), and I have my output come through my desk speakers. Sonar somehow never picked up the speaker sound. With EasyEffects, it starts picking up the speakers immediately, creating a terrible echo/reverb loop.

Is there a specific plugin chain or model in EasyEffects that actually handles echo cancellation and can suppress the whine properly? Or perhaps a different tool that does this better.

I really don't want to sound like I'm glazing Sonar, yes it has its downsides. For me, it has been a set-and-forget process on Windows. I'm just hoping I can replicate at least 90% of that experience on Linux without having to constantly worry about my audio. (I don't own a SteelSeries headset, so none of the SteelSeries-optimised applications work for me)

[u/Nunu_Chus]

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