Display & Sound
The Display & Sound category covers visual preferences, display configuration, and audio settings.
Appearance
Section titled “Appearance”Language
Section titled “Language”Choose the display language for all UI text. Currently English is the only supported language; more translations are planned.
Timezone
Section titled “Timezone”Set your local timezone so that print completion times, ETAs, and the clock widget display the correct time. Most printers default to UTC. Select from a curated list of common timezones — each entry shows the UTC offset (e.g., “Eastern (-5:00)”). DST is handled automatically using your system’s timezone database.
Path: Settings > Display & Sound > Timezone
Time Format
Section titled “Time Format”Choose between 12-hour and 24-hour clock display. Affects all timestamps shown throughout the UI.
Animations
Section titled “Animations”Toggle UI motion effects (transitions, panel slides, confetti). Disable for better performance on slower hardware like Raspberry Pi 3.
Widget Labels
Section titled “Widget Labels”Toggle labels on home panel widgets. Disable for a cleaner look on small screens.
Bed Mesh Render
Section titled “Bed Mesh Render”Choose how bed mesh data is visualized: Auto, 3D View, or 2D Heatmap.
Display
Section titled “Display”Dark Mode
Section titled “Dark Mode”Switch between light and dark themes. Disabled when the active theme doesn’t support both modes.
Theme Colors
Section titled “Theme Colors”Open the theme explorer to browse, preview, and apply color themes.
Brightness
Section titled “Brightness”Slider from 10–100%. Only shown on hardware with backlight control (hidden on Android).
Screen Dim
Section titled “Screen Dim”When the screen dims to lower brightness: Never, 30s, 1m, 2m, or 5m of inactivity.
Display Sleep
Section titled “Display Sleep”When the screen turns off completely: Never, 1m, 5m, 10m, or 30m of inactivity.
Screensaver
Section titled “Screensaver”Choose a screensaver to display during inactivity instead of turning the screen off.
Sleep While Printing
Section titled “Sleep While Printing”Allow the display to sleep during active prints. Off by default so you can monitor progress.
Tip: Touch the screen to wake from sleep.
Sounds
Section titled “Sounds”Master toggle — turns all sounds on or off. All other sound options are hidden when sounds are disabled.
Sound options appear as soon as HelixScreen starts — you don’t need to wait for the printer to connect. If no audio hardware is detected after connection, the sound options are hidden entirely.
Volume
Section titled “Volume”Master volume slider (0–100%). Only shown when sounds are enabled.
UI Sounds
Section titled “UI Sounds”Controls button taps, navigation, and toggle sounds. When off, only important sounds still play (print complete, errors, alarms).
Sound Theme
Section titled “Sound Theme”Choose sound style. A test sound plays when you switch themes.
Sound Themes
Section titled “Sound Themes”HelixScreen comes with five built-in themes:
| Theme | Description |
|---|---|
| Default | Balanced, tasteful sounds. Subtle clicks, smooth navigation chirps, and a melodic fanfare when your print completes. |
| Minimal | Only plays sounds for important events: print complete, errors, and alarms. No button or navigation sounds at all. |
| Retro | 8-bit chiptune style. Punchy square-wave arpeggios, a Mario-style victory fanfare, and buzzy retro alarms. |
| Miami Vice | Punchy 80s electronic synth. Staccato square-wave hits, driving rhythm, and a soaring saw-wave lead for print complete. |
| Crockett’s Theme | Warm, cinematic 80s synth. Smooth saw waves with long sustains and filter sweeps. Startup plays the Crockett’s Theme melody. |
Preview Sounds
Section titled “Preview Sounds”Tap Preview Sounds in the Sound section to open an overlay with buttons for every sound in the current theme. Tap any button to hear that sound immediately. This is useful for comparing themes or testing custom sounds.
Custom Sound Themes
Section titled “Custom Sound Themes”You can create your own sound themes without modifying the HelixScreen installation:
- SSH into your printer
- Create the sounds directory if it doesn’t exist:
mkdir -p ~/helixscreen/config/sounds - Copy an existing theme as a starting point:
cp ~/helixscreen/assets/config/sounds/default.json ~/helixscreen/config/sounds/mytheme.json - Edit the file: change the
"name"field and modify the sounds - Your theme appears in the Sound Theme dropdown immediately
Custom themes support the full synthesis engine: four waveform types (square, saw, triangle, sine), ADSR envelopes, frequency sweeps, lowpass/highpass filters with sweep, LFO modulation, polyphonic chords (up to 4 voices), musical note names (C4, F#5, Bb3), and musical duration notation (8n, 4n., 16t) with BPM.
If your custom theme has the same filename as a built-in theme, your version takes priority.
See the Sound System developer docs for the complete JSON schema reference.
What Sounds When
Section titled “What Sounds When”| Event | Sound | When It Plays |
|---|---|---|
| Button press | Short click | Any button tapped |
| Toggle on | Rising chirp | A switch turned on |
| Toggle off | Falling chirp | A switch turned off |
| Navigate forward | Ascending tone | Opening a screen or overlay |
| Navigate back | Descending tone | Closing an overlay or going back |
| Print complete | Victory melody | Print finished successfully |
| Print cancelled | Descending tone | Print job cancelled |
| Error alert | Pulsing alarm | A significant error occurred |
| Error notification | Short buzz | An error toast appeared |
| Critical alarm | Urgent siren | Critical failure requiring attention |
| Test sound | Short beep | Preview Sounds overlay in settings |
| Startup | Theme jingle | HelixScreen launches (plays once at startup) |
The first five (button press, toggles, navigation) are UI sounds and respect the “UI Sounds” toggle. The rest always play as long as the master toggle is on.
Supported Hardware
Section titled “Supported Hardware”| Hardware | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Desktop (SDL) | Full audio synthesis through your computer speakers. Best sound quality. |
| ALSA (Linux) | Direct audio output on devices with ALSA sound support. 4-voice polyphony with MOD/MED tracker music support for richer sound themes. |
| Creality AD5M / AD5M Pro | Hardware PWM buzzer. Supports different tones and volume levels. |
| Other Klipper printers | Beeper commands sent through Moonraker. Requires [output_pin beeper] in your Klipper config. Basic beep tones only. |
If no audio hardware is detected, the sound options are hidden entirely.
Disabling sound entirely: On some hardware (e.g., Artillery M1 Pro), audio drivers are present but using them causes excessive CPU load. If you experience performance issues with sound enabled, add "disable_sound": true to your settings.json or start HelixScreen with --no-sound. This prevents the audio backend from initializing at all, unlike the Sounds toggle which just mutes playback.
Sound Troubleshooting
Section titled “Sound Troubleshooting”I don’t see Sound options in Settings.
Your printer doesn’t have a detected speaker or buzzer. For Klipper printers, make sure you have [output_pin beeper] configured in your printer.cfg, then restart HelixScreen.
Sounds are too quiet or too loud. Adjust the Volume slider. Volume also varies by theme — try switching themes.
Print complete sound doesn’t play. Make sure the master “Sounds” toggle is on. The “UI Sounds” toggle does not affect print completion sounds.
Button click sounds are annoying. Turn off “UI Sounds”. This disables button, toggle, and navigation sounds while keeping important notifications.
Sounds work on desktop but not on my printer.
Confirm your printer has audio hardware. For Klipper printers, verify [output_pin beeper] is present and correctly configured. Test by sending an M300 command from the Klipper console.