This manual is for Benben (v0.7.1, 6 November 2025), a fast and efficient command line audio player and converter for Unix-like platforms.
Benben is a fast and efficient command line audio player and audio converter for Linux and other Unix-like systems with an oldschool-inspired interface. It supports multiple formats, and is especially suited to people who organize their music in folders, and for those who prefer to use terminals instead of GUIs.
Benben is written almost entirely in the Common Lisp programming language.
In addition to the above formats, Benben can also read songs contained within Doom WAD files. All formats except SID can be loaded from WADs.
Before Benben ever existed, Remilia started work on a port of a SoundFont synthesis library called MeltySynth1 from C# to Crystal. Her port of this software was called 2. As part of her port, she included a simple command line player called midi123, which was very bare bones and was intended to be nothing more than an example/test player for the library. However, it quickly grew to be more than a simple example and eventually became a standalone command-line player for General MIDI files.
About a year later, Remilia started to work on creating a VGM playback library called YunoSynth3 for native Crystal. This was partially a port of vgmplay4 from C, and partially an object-oriented rewrite. Similar to midi123, and using its code as a base, Remilia also created a companion command-line player for YunoSynth called Benben.
The first few version of Benben only played VGM files (or their compressed variants), and used raw ANSI console commands to draw its interface. Starting with v0.3.0, Benben moved to an interface built with S-Lang (more accurately, her own Crystal bindings to S-Lang). Remilia also found herself continually wishing that Benben could play other formats so that she wouldn’t have to switch between audio players, and so beginning with v0.5.0, Benben became a general-purpose music player that supports multiple input formats.
Benben (and all of its support libraries) underwent a complete rewrite for v0.7.0 in order to be ported to the Common Lisp programming language.
Benben is a command line program. To play a file, simply pass it as an argument to Benben:
benben coolsong.mp3
Multiple files can also be specified, one after another. They will be played in the order that you list them:
benben coolsong1.mp3 other-directory/coolsong2.flac coolsong3.vgm
If you specify a directory, then Benben will play all files in that directory in alphabetical order. It will not recurse into any subdirectories by default, however.
benben directory-with-music/
To recurse subdirectories, add the --recurse option. You can also specify this as the default in your configuration file if you’d like (see recurse-subdirectories).
benben --recurse directory-with-music/
Playlists in XSPF5 or JSPF6 format can also be used. These can be passed in like any other file, and their contents will be queued up in the same order that the playlist specifies.
benben cool-mix.xspf
Finally, you can mix and match any of these methods as you see fit:
benben cool-mix.xspf coolsong1.flac /directory/with/music/
Benben comes with two user interfaces: the “Original UI” and the “Minimal UI”. The Original UI is the default and, prior to Benben v0.7.0, was the only user interface available. When in doubt, stick with the Original UI.
During playback, a progress bar will be displayed at the bottom. It will look something like this:
[EsCr-] 1/1, 1 of 2: |*****************---------------------| 45% [02:20/05:09]
The characters to the left in brackets indicate the state of various effects and other pieces of information. These are, in order from left to right:
EQ is on.
EQ is off.
Stereo enhancer is on.
Stereo enhancer is off.
Soft clipping is on.
Soft clipping is off.
Reverb is on.
Reverb is off.
A song-specific config was found for the current song and loaded. See Song-specific Config Files
A song-specific config was not found for the current song. See Song-specific Config Files
Next to these characters will be the current track, a slash, and then total number of tracks. Following this is the loop information (e.g. ‘1 of 2’ means “currently in the first loop out of two”). When the loop information displays as ‘1 of *’, then the song is looping indefinitely. Note that for VGM files, if the song does not have any loop information in it, then this will always read as ‘1 of 1’. The loop information will be changed to the text “fading” when a song is being faded out by Benben.
There is some additional information located at the bottom of the user interface. This will look something like this:
v0.7.0-rc3, Press 'q' to quit, 'h' for help [rsp] CPU: 0.0% Vol: 1.00
Starting from the left is the version of the program, a message indicating how to display basic help information at runtime, global state information (see below), CPU usage for Benben itself, and the output volume of the program.
The global state information (the [rsp] field) indicates the state of
various global settings for the entire program. These are, in order from left
to right:
The entire song queue will be repeated when it reaches the end.
The entire song queue will not be repeated when it reaches the end.
The program will exit after the current song finishes playing (“stop after current” mode is enabled).
The program will continue as normal after the current song finishes playing (“stop after current” mode is disabled).
The next song will automatically start in a paused state after the current song finishes playing (“pause after current” mode is enabled).
The next song will start normally after the current song finishes playing (“pause after current” mode is disabled).
The program will respond to various keys during playback. These are listed below, and you can also press the h key to see them while Benben is running.
Go to the next file in the playback queue. If the --repeat option is used and you are already on the last item in the queue, then Benben will loop back to the first item. See Command Line Options
Go to the previous file in the playback queue. If you are already on the first item, Benben will simply restart the playback of that item.
Toggle the displayed GD3 tag language. Only works for VGM files.
Toggle the interpolation mode. Only for module/tracker formats.
Toggle soft clipping on and off.
Toggle the EQ effect on and off.
Toggle the DC offset filter on and off.
Toggle the stereo enhancer effect on and off.
Toggle the reverb effect on and off.
Raise the volume.
Lower the volume.
Increase the number of times the song loops. Not all formats support this.
Increase the number of times the song loops. Not all formats support this.
Quit the program.
Redraws the entire screen.
Toggles the “stop after current song” mode. When this is enabled, Benben will exit once the current song finishes playing or you hit n to move to the next file.
Toggles the “pause after current song” mode. When this is enabled, then the next song will be start in a paused state after the current song finishes playing or you hit n to move to the next file.
Reloads all song-specific configuration files. See Song-specific Config Files
Reloads the current theme from disk.
Seeks forward a bit. Not all formats support this.
Seeks backwards a bit. Not all formats support this.
Toggles the chorus effect. This only works for General MIDI files.
Show extended information about the currently applied effects and resampler.
Pause/unpause playback.
Toggles repeat of the entire song queue. In other words, when this is enabled, then Benben will loop back to the very first song in the song queue once the final song finishes playing. When this is disabled, then Benben will exit after the final song finishes playing.
Starting with Benben v0.7.0, an alternate user interface called the “Minimal
UI” exists that gives power users an alternate way to experience Benben. As
its name implies, this interface is very minimal, to the point that it does not
even have key bindings. All input is instead handled through the
remote-benben program (see Remote Control). No ANSI sequences
are used, and only plain text is printed to the terminal.
This user interface is most useful for users who have a headless setup, who want
to control Benben entirely remotely and do not need a full UI, and for debugging
Benben. Starting the Minimal UI is accomplished by passing
--ui minimal in as a command line argument.
The typical output of the program in this mode starts with the usual startup text, followed by the “Benben” banner. Basic output information is printed after this, such as the output sample rate, the number of tracks, the total play time, and so on. After this, the information that gets displayed depends on what sort of events occur. For example, track information will be displayed each time Benben plays a new track. Likewise, changing any of the effect settings will cause effect information to be displayed.
Output Sample Rate: 44100 Resampler: sinc-best Backend: out123 Total files to play: 1 Total play time: 02:24 Effects: EQ: on, Reverb: off DC Filter: on, Soft Clipping: on (1x) Stereo Enhancer: off Effects changed: EQ: off, Reverb: off DC Filter: on, Soft Clipping: on (1x) Stereo Enhancer: off Track changed: Track: 1/1 Type: MPEG-1 Info: MPEG-1 Layer III File, 320 kbps CBR Filename: 01 - Police Truck.mp3 Title: Police Truck Artist: Dead Kennedys Album: Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death Date: 1987 Genre: Punk Sample Rate: 44100 Length: 02:24
--help, -hDisplays help information, then exits.
--version, -vDisplays brief version information, then exits.
--long-versionShow verbose version information, then exits.
--scan-onlyOnly scan files, then exit.
--recurseRecursively look for files in sub-directories. Overrides the
recurse-subdirectories configuration option
(see recurse-subdirectories).
--no-recurseDo not recursively look for files in sub-directories. Overrides the
recurse-subdirectories configuration option
(see recurse-subdirectories).
--dump-configGenerates a fresh configuration file and prints it to standard output, then exits.
--basedir xLoad configuration data and themes from an alternate directory.
--remoteStart up a UNIX domain socket for remote control. See Remote Control
--remote-socket xPut the socket for the --remote option in an alternate location.
See Remote Control
--list-themesLists all available themes. See Themes
--theme x, -T xUse the specified theme. See Specifying a Theme
--ui xUse a specific user interface. Use --ui list to see a list of
available user interfaces. The default is original.
--no-listenbrainz, -LNever submit to ListenBrainz.
--tcp-driver-host xThe host connect to when using the TCP audio driver. The default is
localhost. See Sending Audio Over TCP
--tcp-driver-port xThe port connect to when using the TCP audio driver. The default is
6969. See Sending Audio Over TCP
--tcp-driver-format xThe audio format to transmit to when using the TCP audio driver. Use
--tcp-driver-format list to see a list of available formats. The default
is float32. See Sending Audio Over TCP
--driver x, -d xSelects the audio driver to use. Use --driver list to see a list of
available drivers. The default is any.
--alsa-device xUse a specific ALSA device; ignored if not using the ALSA driver. Default:
default.
--volume x, -v xSets the output volume. The valid range is 0.0 to 3.0, and the default is 1.0.
--sample-rate x, -S xSets the output sample rate, in hertz. Valid range is 8000 to 48000, and the default is 44100.
--replay-gain xSet the ReplayGain mode. This only applies to files that support ReplayGain.
Use --replay-gain list to see a list of values; The default is
disabled.
--resampler xSets the resampler mode. Use --resampler list to see a list of
available modes. The default is linear.
--no-eq, -eStart with the equalizer disabled. The equalizer can still be toggled during playback with the e key.
--soft-clipping, -cStart with soft clipping enabled on the output. This can still be toggled during playback with the c key.
--no-soft-clipping, -CStart with soft clipping disabled on the output. This can still be toggled during playback with the c key.
--soft-clipping-oversampling xChanges the amount of oversampling that’s applied when doing soft clipping. The
default is 1, which means no oversampling is performed by the soft
clipper.
--soft-clipping-mode xSets the type of resampler to use for oversampling when soft clipping is enabled
(default: linear). Uses the same values as --resampler.
--stereo-enhancer, -tStart with the stereo enhancer effect enabled. This can still be toggled during playback with the s key.
--stereo-enhancement x, -E xSets the stereo enhancement amount when the stereo enhancer is enabled. The valid range is 0.0 (nearly monaural) to 1.5 (very wide). The default is 0.5, which is equivalent to not having the effect enabled. If the stereo enhancer is not enabled, this does nothing.
--dc-filterStart with the DC offset filter enabled.
--no-dc-filterStart with the DC offset filter disabled.
--reverb, -rStart with the reverb effect enabled. This can still be toggled during playback with the r key.
--no-reverb, -RStart with the reverb effect disabled. This can still be toggled during playback with the r key.
--reverb-type xSet the type of reverb unit that is used. You can use --reverb-type list to see a listing of valid types. The default is mverb.
--reverb-preset xChanges the selected reverb unit’s parameters to an alternate preset. You can
use --reverb-preset list to see a listing of valid types for the
selected reverb unit. The default is gm-default.
--reverb-amount x, -r xThe amount of reverb to apply to the output. Valid range is 0.0 to 1.0 default is 0.5. This does nothing if the reverb is disabled.
--loop x, -l xThe number of times to loop during playback and rendering; a value of 0 means to loop indefinitely. A value of 0 cannot be used when rendering to a file. Only certain formats support looping.
--repeat, -pGo back to the first song after the last one has finished playing.
--no-repeat, -PDo not go back to the first song after the last one has finished playing. This is mainly meant for overriding the config file setting.
--shuffleRandomizes the playback queue before starting playback.
--start-pausedStart the program in a “paused” state.
--fadeout-seconds xHow many seconds to fade out when Benben fades out a song. This only applies to certain formats. Default: 5.
--vgm-chip-infoDisplays a list of supported VGM chip emulators, then exits.
--vgm-strict-gd3-loadingBe strict about GD3 tags when loading the VGM. This disables parallel file checking at startup.
--vgm-dmg-boost-wave-chanBoost the WAVE channel in the DMG emulator core.
--vgm-no-dmg-boost-wave-chanDo not boost the WAVE channel in the DMG emulator core.
--vgm-ym2612-pseudo-stereoEnable the pseudo-stereo effect for the YM2612 emulator core.
--vgm-no-ym2612-pseudo-stereoDisable the pseudo-stereo effect for the YM2612 emulator core.
--sid-monoForce 2SID and 3SID files to playback as monaural. See Playing SID Files
--sid-def-length xChange the default length for SID songs, in seconds. This is useful for SIDs
that are not found within a song length database, or when no song length
database is used. The default is 180. See Playing SID Files
--midi-soundfont xUse a specific SoundFont for all MIDI files.
--midi-reverb-type xSets the type of reverb for MIDI files. This doesn’t affect other formats.
Default: mverb. Use --midi-reverb-type list to see valid
types.
--render, -nTells Benben to render files to WAV (or Au) rather than play them back. Each input file is rendered to its own destination file, where the output name matches the original filename. This renders to WAV by default.
--quiet, -QDon’t print any messages or progress, except errors.
--normalize, -NNormalize each rendered file so that it’s peak is zero dBFS.
--cue xWrite a CUE file for the rendered files.
--au, -ARender to Au instead of WAV.
--float, -FOutput files will contain IEEE Floating Point data instead of integer PCM data.
--bit-depth x, -b xSet the bit depth for the output files. Valid bit depths are 8, 16, 24, 32, and 64. The default is 16 when rendering integer PCM data, and 32 when rendering IEEE floating point data.
--outdir x, -o xWhere to save the rendered files.
--overwriteOverwrite existing files when rendering.
--jobs xThe number of parallel rendering jobs to use. This is only meaningful when rendering more than one input file. This must be at least 1, and the default is equal to the number of logical CPU cores.
Commodore 64 SID files are files that store music composed for the Commodore 64. Benben can play these by emulating part of a Commodore 64 and its sound chip and the MOS 6581 “SID” chip (or the MOS 8580). Benben handles these somewhat differently than other formats because a single SID file is capable of storing more than one song, and there are some configuration options that are specific to SID files. See Configuration
The Commodore 64 SID chip was a monaural sound chip, so SID songs are not stereo
by default. However, some songs support multiple SID chips, known as 2SID and
3SID (for two chips and three chips, respectively). Stereo output is possible
with these files, and Benben has full support for these without needing to do
anything special. You can force these to output as monaural using the
--sid-mono command line option. See Command Line Options
To play all songs in a SID file, simply pass it in on the command line like usual:
benben CYBERNOID.SID
Selecting a single song out of a SID file is also possible, for example to select the second song in a SID:
benben LAST_NINJA_2.SID@2
you can also select a set of individual songs:
benben ROBOCOP3.SID@2,4,7
Finally, a range of songs can also be selected:
benben COMMANDO.SID@1-3
All of these techniques are also possible from playlist files.
SID files are unusual in that they do not contain information about how long a song is. This is remedied by use of a songlengths database. This is an INI-format file that simply stores length information about known SID files. The High Voltage SID Collection site has an up-to-date songlengths database file available for download that will cover nearly all known SID files, and is the recommended way to inform Benben about the length of SID songs.
To use a database, first download it and place it somewhere on your computer.
Then open up your Benben configuration file and add this line, replacing the
path with the path of the file you just downloaded. Note that you may already
have a c64 section; if you do, add the song-length-db line
under your existing section, otherwise create a new c64 section.
See Configuration
c64: song-length-db: /path/to/your/Songlengths.txt
If a song is not found in the database, or if you do not use a songlength database, then Benben will instead play the song using a “default” song length. This length is 180 seconds by default, but can be configured to a different length in your configuration file. See Configuration
c64: default-song-length: 300 # This value is in seconds
You can also change this on command line using --sid-def-length.
See Command Line Options
Benben will play most SID files without issue out-of-the-box. However, a few
SID files may require dumps of various ROM chips from a Commodore 64,
specifically the KERNAL, BASIC, and CHARGEN ROMs. You
should be able to find these with a bit of clever Internet searching. Once you
have downloaded these, place the relevant options into Benben’s configuration
file. See Configuration
c64: kernal-rom: /home/remilia/doc/c64/kernal basic-rom: /home/remilia/doc/c64/basic chargen-rom: /home/remilia/doc/c64/chargen
Benben’s configuration file lets you specify many of its options, saving you from having to type them in on the
command line each time, as well as a few that aren’t available via the command line. The file uses the
YAML7 format for ease of use. The first time you run Benben, a
default configuration file will be created. If you wish to create a fresh one at a later date, you can run
benben --dump-config, which will print a fresh configuration file with the default values to standard
output.
The location of the configuration file depends on your platform. On Linux/Unix, the file is located at
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/benben/benben.yaml (this usually means ~/.config/benben/benben.yaml).
Note that command line options can still override the configuration file. So you can have your configuration file
set to loop each song 3 times, you still use the --loop parameter to temporarily change to another value.
See Command Line Options
The configuration format is not considered stable, and won’t be until Benben v1.0 is released. Until then, you may have to make small adjustments when upgrading between versions. These changes will be noted in the release notes for each version of Benben.
buffer-size: 256
audio-driver: out123
sample-rate: 44100
fadeout-seconds: 5
repeat-playlist: false
render-jobs: 8
main-volume: 1.0
max-loops: 1
resampler: sincbest
replay-gain: album
tcp-driver-format: f32
remote: true
recurse-directories: false
listenbrainz:
token: 123-abc-your-token-here
matrix:
server-address: "https://example.com/"
username: "@username:example.com"
password: "abc-123-your-password-here"
enable-stereo-enhancer: false
stereo-enhancement-amount: 1.1
no-soft-clipping: false
soft-clipping-oversampling: 1
reverb-type: mverb
reverb-enabled: false
reverb-amount: 0.369
vgm:
preferred-gd3-lang: toggle_prefer_english
modules:
default-panning: 69
interpolation: spline
fade-out-songs: false
midi:
soundfont: "/home/remilia/doc/soundfonts/sc-55.sf2"
reverb-enabled: true
reverb-type: mverb
c64:
song-length-db: /home/remilia/doc/c64-songlengths.txt
default-song-length: 180
kernal-rom: /home/remilia/.local/share/sidplayfp/kernal
basic-rom: /home/remilia/.local/share/sidplayfp/basic
chargen-rom: /home/remilia/.local/share/sidplayfp/chargen
default-c64-model: ntsc
default-sid-model: mos6581
sampling-method: ResampleInterpolate
ui:
animations-enabled: true
theme:
- plum
- smooth-neon
- blue-phosphor
- phosphor
- semi-retro
- remilia
banner: [graffiti, stronger, speed]
display-loop-times-separate: true
equalizer-enabled: true
equalizer-disabled-during-rendering: true
equalizer:
post-gain: 0.0
low-shelf:
frequency: 80.0
gain: 2.0
bandwidth: 1.0
bands:
- frequency: 105.0
gain: 2.78
bandwidth: 0.6
- frequency: 275.0
gain: -6.0
bandwidth: 0.2
- frequency: 6000.0
gain: 1.5
bandwidth: 1.0
high-shelf:
frequency: 9001.0
gain: 1.4
bandwidth: 0.9
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
audio-driver
| String | The output driver used to produce sound during playback. Use benben --driver list to see a list of valid options. Default: ‘any’.
See Command Line Options |
alsa-device
| One of: out123, alsa, ao, alsa, or any | The ALSA device to use when using the alsa driver; ignored when using any
other driver. Default: ‘default’. See Command Line Options |
buffer-size
| An integer that is at least 256, and evenly divisible by 256. | The size of the audio buffer. Note that this also affects the smoothness of the VU meter. In most cases, this doesn’t need changing. Default: ‘256’. |
sample-rate | An integer between 8000 and 48000. | The output sample rate, in hertz. Default: ‘44100’. |
tcp-driver-host | String | The hostname of the machine to send audio to when using the TCP driver. This
only affects the TCP audio-driver. Default: ‘localhost’.
See Sending Audio Over TCP |
tcp-driver-port | An integer between 1 and 65535 | The port of the machine to send audio to when using the TCP driver. This only
affects the TCP audio-driver. Default: ‘6969’. See Sending Audio Over TCP |
tcp-driver-format | One of: float64, float32, int64, int32, int24, int16, int12,
int8, or uint8 | The raw audio format to send when using the TCP driver. This only affects the
TCP audio-driver. Default: ‘f32’, meaning 32-bit IEEE Floating
Point. See Sending Audio Over TCP
|
recurse-directories | true or false | When ‘true’, then sub-directories are also searched when you pass Benben a directory. Default: ‘false’. |
repeat-playlist | true or false | When ‘true’, then the player will loop back to the first song once the final song is finished playing. This only has an effect during playback, not during rendering. Default: ‘false’. |
render-jobs | An integer >= 1 | The number of workers (threads) to use when rendering in parallel. This must be at least 1, and defaults to the number of logical CPU cores you have. |
fadeout-seconds | An integer between 0 and 255 | The number of seconds a looping song will fade out when finished. Default: ‘5’. This only applies to certain formats. |
no-soft-clipping | true or false | When ‘true’, soft clipping is disabled by default. Default: ‘false’. |
soft-clipping-oversampling | An integer between 1 and 256 | How much oversampling to apply when using the soft clipping effect. Default: ‘1’, meaning “no oversampling”. |
soft-clipping-mode | One of: sinc-best, sinc-medium, sinc-fast, zero-order-hold, linear | The resampling mode to use for the soft clipper. This only takes effect when
the soft-clipping-oversampling value is over ‘1’. Default:
‘linear’. |
enable-stereo-enhancer | true or false | When ‘true’, this enables a stereo enhancement effect. Default: ‘false’. |
stereo-enhancement-amount | Float between 0.0 and 1.5 | The amount of stereo enhancement to apply to the output signal. This requires
enable-stereo-enhancer to be ‘true’. This can go from ‘0.0’
(nearly monaural) to ‘1.5’ (very wide). Default: ‘0.5’, which is the
same as not enabling this effect. |
main-volume | Float between 0.0 and 2.0 | The main output volume. Default: ‘1.0’. |
max-loops | An integer between 0 and 4294967295 | The maximum number of times to loop if the song has loop information. If the song has no loop information, this is ignored. A value of ‘0’ means “loop forever”. Default: ‘1’ (meaning “play once, then loop once”). |
resampler | One of: sinc-best, sinc-medium, sinc-fast, zero-order-hold, linear | The resampler mode to use when playing a file that does not match the
sample-rate setting. The default is fine in most cases. Default:
‘linear’. |
seek-time | An integer between 0 and 65535 | How far to seek when fast-forwarding/rewinding. The meaning of this value is format-dependent. Default: ‘10’. |
replay-gain | One of: disabled, mix, or album | How to apply ReplayGain to formats that support it. Default: ‘disabled’. |
remote | true or false | Whether or not to enable remote control via the remote-benben program
at startup. Default: ‘false’. See Remote Control |
dc-filter | true or false | When ‘true’, a DC offset filter will be applied to the output. You can still turn on and off the equalizer by pressing the d key during playback. Default: ‘true’. |
reverb-enabled | true or false | When ‘true’, then a reverb effect will be enabled by default. Default: ‘false’. |
reverb-type | mverb or zita | The type of reverb to apply when reverb is enabled. Default: ‘mverb’. |
reverb-amount | Float between 0.0 and 1.0 | The amount of reverb to apply when reverb is enabled. Default: ‘0.5’. |
mverb-reverb-preset | String | The preset to use for the reverb when reverb is enabled and
reverb-type is set to ‘mverb’. Default: ‘gm-default’.
Use the command line option --reverb-preset list together with
--reverb-type mverb to see a list of presets for that type. |
zita-reverb-preset | String | The preset to use for the reverb when reverb is enabled and
reverb-type is set to ‘zita’. Default: ‘gm-default’.
Use the command line option --reverb-preset list together with
--reverb-type zita to see a list of presets for that type. |
equalizer-enabled | true or false | When ‘true’, an equalizer effect will be applied to the output. You can still turn on and off the equalizer by pressing the e key during playback. Default: ‘false’. |
equalizer-disabled-during-rendering | true or false | When ‘true’, no equalizer effect will be applied to the output when rendering a file to WAV/Au. This only takes effect when rendering to files. Default: ‘false’. |
equalizer | Sub-block. See Equalizer Config Block | Configuration section for the equalizer. |
listenbrainz | Sub-block. See ListenBrainz Config Block | The settings for ListenBrainz integration. |
matrix | Sub-block. See Matrix Config Block | The settings for integration with the Matrix protocol. |
ui | Sub-block. See UI Config Block | The settings for the user interface. |
vgm | Sub-block. See VGM Config Block | The settings for VGM files. |
modules | Sub-block. See Modules Config Block | The settings for module/tracker files. |
midi | Sub-block. See MIDI Config Block | The settings for MIDI/MUS files. |
c64 | Sub-block. See C64 Config Block | The settings for C64 SID files. See Playing SID Files |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
preferred-gd3-lang | One of: english, japanese, toggle-prefer-english, or toggle-prefer-japanese | The default language in which to display GD3 tag info. Default: ‘japanese’. This can be toggled during playback with the t key. Only applicable to VGM files. |
emulators | Sub-block. See Emulator Config Block | Sets emulator-specific settings for VGM files. |
max-file-size | A uint64 | The maximum file size for VGM files, in bytes. Any file that is larger than this is never considered a valid VGM. Default is 62914560 (60 megabytes). |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
dmg-boost-wave-chan | true or false | Doubles the volume of the wave channel when playing GameBoy music. Default: ‘true’. |
huc6280-core | mame or ootake | Determines the emulation core used for music that uses the HuC6280 chip (e.g. PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16). Default: ‘ootake’ |
ym2151-core | mame | Determines the emulation core used for music that uses the YM2151 chip. Default: ‘mame’. |
ym2612-pseudo-stereo | true or false | When using the MAME core for the YM2612, this instructs the chip emulator to
update the left/right channels alternatively, creating a nice pseudo-stereo
effect. Default: false. |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
animations-enabled | true or false | When true, then various animations will be displayed by the user interface. This does not affect the VU meters. Default: ‘true’. |
banner | One of: graffiti, cyber, rounded, chunky, soft, doomed, stronger,
speed; or an array containing one or more of these values. | The banner to show at the top of the interface. If this is an array, a random banner from the array will be chosen. This cannot be an empty array. Default: an array with all of the possible values. |
banner-anim | One of: slide-in, dissolve, dissolve-from-nothing,
wipe-from-left, wipe-from-right | The type of banner animation to play when first starting Benben. This only has an effect when animations are enabled. |
theme | A String or an Array of Strings | The theme to use for the UI. If this value is a string, then only that theme is
used. If the value is an array, then a random theme will be chosen from the
array values. Use the --theme list command line option to see a list
of valid themes. Default: ‘default’ (the default theme). See Themes |
display-loop-times-separate | true or false | When ‘true’, the length of the loop segment will be shown in parentheses along side the track playback time in the song queue. Default: ‘false’. |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
default-panning | An integer between 0 and 255 | The default amount of panning for modules with no panning information. Default: ‘69’. |
interpolation | One of: nearest, linear, spline | What kind of interpolation to apply to the sound. Default: ‘linear’. |
fade-out-songs | true or false | When true, songs are looped and slowly faded out at the end. Otherwise songs just simply “end” when they’re at the end. Default: ‘false’. |
post-track-seconds | An integer between 0 and 255. | When you are not looping a module file, and reverb is enabled at the start of the track, then this many seconds of extra silence will added to the end of the song to allow the reverb tails to finish playing. Default: ‘1’. |
max-file-size | A uint64 | The maximum file size for modules files, in bytes. Any file that is larger than this is never considered a valid module file. Default is 268435456 (256 megabytes). |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
soundfont | String | The path to the SoundFont file to use when playing MIDI/MUS files. Without a SoundFont, MIDI/MUS files cannot be played. Default: empty string. |
reverb-enabled | true or false | When true, then a reverb effect will be enabled by default. This setting
is specific to MIDI/MUS files since they handle reverb differently. Default:
‘true’. |
reverb-type | One of: mverb or zita | The type of reverb to apply when reverb is enabled. This setting is specific to MIDI/MUS files since they handle reverb differently. Default: ‘mverb’. |
reverb-amount | An integer between 0 and 255 | The default amount of reverb to apply. MIDI/MUS files may still change this per-channel during playback. This setting is specific to MIDI/MUS files since they handle reverb differently. Default: ‘64’. |
disable-remapping | true or false | Whether or not to attempt to map unknown instruments to a known instrument. Default: ‘false’. |
inst-reverb-level | An integer between 0 and 65535, or null. | When this is an integer, then all SoundFont instruments will have their defined reverb level overridden with this level. Default: ‘null’. |
chorus-enabled | true or false | When true, then a chorus effect will be enabled by default. This setting
is specific to MIDI/MUS files since they handle chorus differently. Default:
‘true’. |
chorus-amount | An integer between 0 and 255 | The default amount of chorus to apply. MIDI/MUS files may still change this per-channel during playback. This setting is specific to MIDI/MUS files since they handle chorus differently. Default: ‘0’. |
chorus-interpolation | One of: linear, cubic, hermite,
hermite-alt,parabolic-2x, optimal-2x-4p-2o, or
optimal-2x-4p-4o | The type of interpolation to use within the chorus effect. This setting is specific to MIDI/MUS files since they handle chorus differently. Default: ‘linear’. |
inst-chorus-level | An integer between 0 and 65535, or null. | When this is an integer, then all SoundFont instruments will have their defined chorus level overridden with this level. Default: ‘null’. |
voice-filter-type | One of: standard, cem, ssm, hornet, ms20, disabled | What type of filter to use for voices. Standard is the standard filter
as described by the SoundFont specifications, and changing this value may cause
your MIDI/MUS files to sound unintentionally different. Default:
‘Standard’. |
channel-filter-type | One of: standard, cem, ssm, hornet, ms20, disabled | What type of filter to use for channels that request a lowpass filter to be
applied during playback. standard is the standard filter as described by
the SoundFont specifications, and changing this value may cause your MIDI/MUS
files to sound unintentionally different. Default: ‘standard’. |
fadeout | true or false | When true, then each MIDI/MUS will be looped and slowly faded out at the
end. When false, then the songs simply “end” at the end. Default:
‘false’. Note that if this is false, then there is a small chance
you will hear fragments or clicks at the end of some songs. This is because the
length of time that audio plays from the MIDI (which is not necessarily the same
as the length of a MIDI) may not be evenly divisible by the rendering buffer
length. |
post-track-seconds | An integer between 0 and 255 | How much extra time to add at the end of a track. This is useful to hear the reverbs/instruments slowly fade out at the end rather than abruptly stop, so it’s recommended that you leave it at the default or higher. Default: ‘4’. |
mverb-reverb-preset | String | The preset to use for the reverb when reverb is enabled set to mverb in
the midi block. This setting is specific to MIDI/MUS files since they
handle reverb differently. Default: ‘gm-default’. |
zita-reverb-preset | String | The preset to use for the reverb when reverb is enabled set to zita in
the midi block. This setting is specific to MIDI/MUS files since they
handle reverb differently. Default: ‘gm-default’. |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
song-length-db | String | The path to the songlength’s database file, as found on High Voltage Sid Collection. Default: empty string (no database). See Playing SID Files |
default-song-length | An integer between 1 and 4294967295 | The default amount of time in seconds to play a SID file when it is not found in
the song-length-db database, or when no database is loaded. Default:
‘180’. See Playing SID Files |
kernal-rom | String | The path to a Commodore 64 KERNAL ROM file. Default: empty string. Note: the spelling is purposely “kernal”. See Playing SID Files |
basic-rom | String | The path to a Commodore 64 BASIC ROM file. Default: empty string. See Playing SID Files |
chargen-rom | String | The path to a Commodore 64 Character (CHARGEN) ROM file. Default: empty string. See Playing SID Files |
default-c64-model | One of: pal, ntsc, old-ntsc, drean | The default model of Commodore 64 to emulate when a SID file does not specify a
model. pal for European PAL-B model, ntsc for American/Japanese
NTSC-M models, old-ntsc for NTSC-M models with old video chip, and
drean for Argentinian PAL-N model. Default: ‘ntsc’. |
force-c64-model | true or false | When true, then the default-c64-model value will always be
applied regardless of what a SID file requests. Default: ‘false’. |
default-sid-model | One of: mos6581, mos8580 | The default model of SID chip to emulate when a SID file does not specify a model. Default: ‘mos6581’. |
force-sid-model | true or false | When true, then the default-sid-model value will always be
applied regardless of what a SID file requests. Default: ‘false’. |
sampling-method | One of: interpolate, resample-interpolate | The resampling mode, where interpolate is faster while
resample-interpolate is slower but more accurate. Default:
‘interpolate’. |
fast-sampling | true or false | Whether or not a faster but slightly less accurate resampling method is used
when sampling-method is resample-interpolate. Default:
‘false’. |
multi-sid-as-mono | true or false | Whether or not to play multi-SID files (e.g. 2SID, 3SID) with one channel (monaural). Default: ‘false’. See Playing SID Files |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
post-gain | Float | The amount of gain to apply to the signal after the EQ has processed it, in decibels. Default: ‘0.0’ (no change to the signal). |
low-shelf | Sub-block. See Low-shelf Config Block | The settings for the low shelf filter. |
bands | An array of sub-blocks. See EQ Band Config Block | An array of peaking EQ bands for the equalizer. There can be as many or as few as you wish. |
high-shelf | Sub-block. See High-shelf Config Block | The settings for the high shelf filter. |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
frequency | Float between 20.0 and 22050.0 | The cutoff frequency for the low shelf in hertz. Default: ‘80.0’. |
gain | Float | How much the volume of the signal under the low shelf is adjusted, in decibels. Default: ‘0.0’. |
bandwidth | Float | How wide the transition band of the filter is, in octaves. Default: ‘0.707’. |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
frequency | Float between 20.0 and 22050.0 | The center frequency for the band in hertz. |
gain | Float | How much the volume of the signal around the center frequency is adjusted, in decibels. |
bandwidth | Float | The width of the band, in octaves. |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
frequency | Float between 20.0 and 22050.0 | The cutoff frequency for the high shelf in hertz. Default: ‘80.0’. |
gain | Float | How much the volume of the signal under the high shelf is adjusted, in decibels. Default: ‘0.0’. |
bandwidth | Float | How wide the transition band of the filter is, in octaves. Default: ‘0.707’. |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
token | String or ‘null’. | Your user token for ListenBrainz. It’s highly recommended that if you set this value, that you restrict read/write permissions for your configuration file to everyone except yourself. Default: ‘null’. |
vgm-prefer-english | ‘true’ or ‘false’ | When ‘true’, prefer to submit English GD3 tag data from VGM files when possible, falling back to Japanese tag data if it’s available. Default: ‘true’. |
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
server-address | String or ‘null’. | The full URI to your server. You must include the scheme (e.g. http)
and hostname at minimum. This is required for Matrix integration. Default:
‘null’. |
username | String or ‘null’. | Your full Matrix username. Be sure to include the at-symbol and the host,
e.g. @username:example.com. This is required for Matrix integration.
Default: ‘null’. |
password | String or ‘null’. | The password for your Matrix account. This is required for Matrix integration.
It is highly suggested that you make your Benben configuration file only
readable by you after setting this (e.g.
chmod 0600 ~/.config/benben/benben.yaml). Default: ‘null’. |
vgm-prefer-english | ‘true’ or ‘false’ | When ‘true’, prefer to use English GD3 tag data from VGM files when setting your Matrix status message, falling back to Japanese tag data if it’s available. Default: ‘true’. |
In addition to the main config file, you can specify alternative configurations for specific song files or directories. These are matched using globbing8. When Benben notices you are playing a song file that matches one of these song-specific configurations, it will use the settings in that file to temporarily override your main configuration settings (the command line can still override everything, however). This lets you easily create settings specific to entire groups of songs. For example, I normally have the equalizer enabled, but I have specific settings for one album that disables the equalizer.
Song-specific config files reside in:
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/benben/song-configs/ (this usually means ~/.config/benben/song-configs/).
The filename for every song-specific configuration file must start with song-config- and end in
.yaml. For example, song-config-x68k-eq.yaml.
Song-specific config files follow the same basic format as the main configuration file, with a few changes. The
most important change is that song-specific config files have an additional key, match, that lets you
specify one or more patterns that will be used to match files. For example, the file
song-config-x68k-eq.yaml on my system has this line at the very top:
match: - /mnt/nanako/vgms-and-mods/VGMs/X68000/**/*.vg?
This specifies that any VGM file in any subdirectory under /mnt/nanako/vgms-and-mods/VGMs/X68000/ gets this
song-specific config applied to it during playback. Any songs that don’t match this pattern (or any pattern in any
other song-specific config files I may have) use the settings in the main config file.
Any keys within a song-specific configuration file will override the main configuration settings (command line arguments still override everything). Keys that are missing from the song configuration file will be filled in with the values from the main configuration file, or the defaults.
Song configuration files are almost identical to the normal configuration file format, except they ignore the following keys:
audio-driver
alsa-device
buffer-size
sample-rate
render-jobs
tcp-driver-host
tcp-driver-port
tcp-driver-format
recurse-directories
repeat-playlist
resampler
remote
seek-time
equalizer
ui
listenbrainz
All other keys are valid. See Main Options
You can use benben --dump-song-config to print a new config to standard output that you can then modify as
you wish.
match:
- /mnt/nanako/vgms-and-mods/VGMs/X68000/**/*.vg?
equalizer:
post-gain: 0.0
low-shelf:
frequency: 80.0
gain: 2.7
bandwidth: 1.8
bands:
- frequency: 105.0
gain: 2.98
bandwidth: 0.9
- frequency: 275.0
gain: -6.0
bandwidth: 0.2
- frequency: 6000.0
gain: 1.5
bandwidth: 1.0
high-shelf:
frequency: 9001.0
gain: 1.4
bandwidth: 0.9
Benben stores its themes in YAML format9 files within a special
themes folder in its configuration directory. The exact location of this folder depends on your platform:
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/benben/themes/ (this usually means ~/.config/benben/themes/).
Each theme is stored in its own file, and the filename of each theme must use
the format theme-<theme name>.yaml. So for example, a theme named
“dark-custom” must be in the themes directory and have the filename
theme-dark-custom.yaml.
If this directory does not exist, Benben will create it at startup. If no theme is specified, Benben uses its default built-in theme.
The theme to use is specified in your main configuration file in the
ui-config section (See Configuration):
ui-config: theme: default
You can also change the theme on the command line:
benben --theme smooth-neon coolfile.mp3
The name of the theme depends on its filename. As mentioned previously, the
filename of each theme must use the format theme-<theme name>.yaml.
So for example, a theme stored in a file named theme-dark-custom.yaml
is named “dark-custom” and can be specified using benben --theme dark-custom.
To see a list of available themes, use the --list-themes argument.
See Command Line Options
Note that color values can be expressed multiple ways. See Color Values
| Key Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
version | The integer value 1 | The version of the Theme Format specification this file conforms to. In all cases, this should be set to ‘1’. The default is ‘1’ if this key is not specified. |
bg-color | Color value | The color of the background. |
fg-color | Color value | The color of all text that isn’t covered by another key. In other words, the default foreground color. |
banner-color | Color value | The color of the banner text. |
banner-lines | An array of color values | The colors of the lines above and below the banners. The last color is the one used when the banner is not animating. Note that the banner will cycle through these twice when animating. There can be a maximum of 15 colors, and there must be at least one. |
banner-fade-down-bright | Color value | The color of bright lines when the banner text is doing its fade-down animation. |
banner-fade-down-dim | Color value | The color of dim lines when the banner text is doing its fade-down animation. |
header-color | Color value | The color of the field headers. |
err-color | Color value | The color of the “Error:” text when displaying an error. |
cur-song-color | Color value | The color of the currently playing song in the playback queue. |
prev-song-color | Color value | The color of the previous song in the playback queue. |
next-song-color-1 | Color value | The color of the song that is next in the playback queue. |
next-song-color-2 | Color value | The color of the song that is two spots away in the playback queue. |
next-song-color-3 | Color value | The color of all songs three spots away and further in the playback queue. |
song-queue-box-color | Color value | The color of the border of the playback queue box. |
song-queue-header-color | Color value | The color of the “Song Queue” header text of the playback queue box. |
progress-bar-char | A single character, or a string containing a single character. | The character used to draw the progress part (left-hand side) of the progress bar. This can be any UTF-8 encoded character as long as it’s equivalent to a single Unicode code point (a single “character”, essentially). |
progress-bar-space-char | A single character, or a string containing a single character. | The character used to draw the right-hand side of the progress bar. This can be any UTF-8 encoded character as long as it’s equivalent to a single Unicode code point (a single “character”, essentially). |
progress-bar-colors | An array of one or more color values | The colors for the progress bar. There must be at least one color, and there can be up to 38 different colors. |
vu-clip-color | Color value | The color of the words “Left” and “Right” displayed next to the VU meters when a song clips. |
vu-clipped-channel-time | An integer between 0 and 255, inclusive | How long in seconds the words “Left” and “Right” remain in their
vu-clip-color when Benben detects that clipping has occurred. |
vu-bar-character | A single character, or a string containing a single character. | The character used to draw the bar segments of the VU meter. This can be any UTF-8 encoded character as long as it’s equivalent to a single Unicode code point (a single “character”, essentially). |
vu-bar-character | A single character, or a string containing a single character. | The character used to draw the tip of the VU meter. This can be any UTF-8 encoded character as long as it’s equivalent to a single Unicode code point (a single “character”, essentially). |
vu-colors | An array of one or more color values | The colors for each VU meter segment. There must be at least one color, and there can be up to 70 different colors. |
Colors can be expressed in one of three ways:
#RRGGBB, which also defines a 24-bit RGB color. RR segment is a hex value
between ‘00’ and ‘FF’, inclusive, that defines the red value, GG is a hex value for green, and
BB is a hex value for blue. Note that the leading # is required, and so you’ll need to
enclose the entire value in double quotes.
Note that not all terminals support 24-bit RGB colors (or even ANSI colors). See My Theme Isn’t Working!
Are you using 24-bit color values? If you are, and you’re sure your terminal supports 24-bit ANSI colors, then it may be that the underlying S-Lang library just isn’t detecting support for it properly. Try doing this before launching Benben:
export COLORTERM=truecolor
This will force it to treat the terminal as support 24-bit colors.
bg-color: 0 fg-color: 250 header-color: 255 err-color: 196 cur-song-color: 201 prev-song-color: 242 next-song-color-1: 244 next-song-color-2: 239 next-song-color-3: 236 song-queue-box-color: 250 song-queue-header-color: 99 progress-bar-char: "*" progress-bar-space-char: "-" progress-bar-colors: [[170, 170, 170]] vu-clip-color: 196 vu-clipped-channel-time: 1 vu-bar-character: "\u25A0" vu-tip-character: "\u25B6" vu-colors: - 105 - 117 - 119 - 190 - 206 - 161
Benben can be controlled remotely using the “Benben Remote Protocol”, which is
fully implemented by a command line program called remote-benben. This
program sends commands and receives responses from a running Benben instance,
and allows a user to do things such as:
This is definitely not an exhaustive list of possible uses. Additionally, the protocol is fully open and can thus be implemented by other programs.
Communication between Benben and remote-benben (or other programs)
happens over a UNIX domain socket. This is created by launching Benben with the
--remote command line option, or by setting it up in the configuration
file. The default location of the socket is
$XDG_DATA_HOME/benben/remote.sock, and this also can be adjusted on the
command line or via the configuration file. See Command Line Options
Full technical documentation for the Benben Remote Protocol is available within Benben’s repository: https://chiselapp.com/user/MistressRemilia/repository/benben/file?name=remote-protocol.md&ci=tip
The remote-benben program allows full control of Benben. The program
will connect to the default socket automatically. There is currently one
option, --socket, which lets you connect to an alternate UNIX domain
socket. You can get help by passing the --help option to the program.
The basic usage of remote-benben is:
remote-benben [options] <command>
To see a list of all commands, use this:
remote-benben cmd-help
Here are various examples of how to use the program. This is not an exhaustive list of commands:
$ remote-benben next # Go to the next song $ remote-benben prev # Go to the previous song $ remote-benben pause # Toggle whether or not Benben is paused $ remote-benben loop-up # Increase number of times the song loops $ remote-benben title # Get the title of the currently playing track
cmd-helpDisplays a listing of all commands.
helpSame as cmd-help.
exitTells Benben to exit.
verReturns Benben’s version information.
proto-verReturns the version of the Benben Remote Protocol that’s in use.
nextGo to the next track.
prevGo to the previous track.
ffSeek forwards.
rwSeek backwards.
langToggles the displayed tag language (if applicable to the currently playing song).
vol-upIncreases the volume.
vol-downDecreases the volume.
pauseToggles whether or not Benben is paused or playing.
stop-afterToggles the “stop after current track” setting.
pause-afterToggles the “pause after current track” setting.
eqToggles the equalizer on or off.
soft-clipToggles soft-clipping on or off.
stereoToggles the stereo enhancer on or off.
reverbToggles the reverb effect on or off.
interpToggles the interpolation type (if the format supports interpolation).
chorusToggles the chorus effect on or off (if the format supports it).
dc-filterToggles the DC offset filter on or off.
loop-upIncrease the number of times the song will loop.
loop-downDecrease the number of times the song will loop.
cur-loopReturns the current playback loop.
max-loopsReturns the current maximum number of playback loops.
repeatToggles repeating of the entire song queue.
trackReturns the current track number (that is, the current track’s position in the song queue).
num-tracksReturns the total number of tracks in the song queue.
formatReturns the current track’s format.
format-numReturns the current tracks’ numerical format identifier.
track-lenReturns the length of the track.
track-posReturns the current playback position of the track.
all-tracksReturns detailed information about all tracks in the song queue. The data returned is serialized using JSON.
Not all formats have tag information, or have different information that what you can request. So, asking for the “genre” may actually return something other than the track’s genre, depending on the format. For example, module files map the number of patterns to the genre field. The program understands this and will display the result correctly.
titleReturns the song title.
artistReturns the track’s artist.
albumReturns the track’s album.
dateReturns the track’s release date.
genreReturns the track’s genre.
stop-after?Returns whether or not the “stop after current track” setting is currently
enabled. A return value of false means that this is disabled.
pause-after?Returns whether or not the “pause after current track” setting is currently
enabled. A return value of false means that this is disabled.
statusReturns the status of the player. This may return one of the following values:
Paused (Benben is paused), Frame (Benben is playing),
Fadeout (Benben is playing and is fading out the current song),
Tails (Benben is playing and is in-between tracks), Done (Benben
is about to move to a new track).
Normally Benben plays audio by sending it to a backend “driver”, such as PulseAudio or PortAudio, that communicates with your sound hardware. However, Benben is also able to send audio over a TCP socket, allowing audio to be piped over a network to another machine. Some backends such as PulseAudio can already do this, but Benben provides a more direct way of accomplishing this, with the trade-off of being somewhat less flexible in terms of realtime control.
To send audio over a TCP socket, you will need to use the TCP “driver”. This
can be selected on the command line using --driver tcp, or in the
configuration file. The default behavior when using the TCP driver is to open a
socket on localhost port 6969 and then listen for connections.
Once a client connects, Benben begins playing and sending audio over the socket
until it exits, or until the socket is closed.
The audio that is sent over TCP is the “raw” uncompressed audio that would normally be sent to your sound card; the default is to send it as 32-bit IEEE floating point samples. You may want to send a different format if you are limited on bandwidth, such as 16-bit signed PCM audio.
Full control of the TCP driver is accomplished either with the command line
(See Command Line Options), or via the configuration file
(See Configuration). It is especially powerful when combined with the
remote-benben program. See Remote Control.
float6464-bit IEEE floating point samples. Overkill in nearly all cases. This transmits eight bytes per sample of audio.
float3232-bit IEEE floating point samples. The default format, and what Benben also uses when using other drivers. This transmits four bytes per sample of audio.
int6464-bit signed integer PCM. Overkill in nearly all cases. This transmits eight bytes per sample of audio.
int3232-bit signed integer PCM. This transmits four bytes per sample of audio.
int2424-bit signed integer PCM. This transmits four bytes per sample of audio (not three).
int1616-bit signed integer PCM. This is what CD audio uses. This transmits two bytes per sample of audio.
int1212-bit signed integer PCM. This transmits two bytes per sample of audio.
int88-bit signed integer PCM. This transmits one byte per sample of audio.
uint88-bit unsigned integer PCM. This transmits one byte per sample of audio.
One possible use of the TCP driver is to transmit audio from one machine to
another, then play the audio using the aplay command on the other
machine. This is a command that comes with ALSA, so it may not be available on
non-Linux platforms, so you may need to adjust this example if you are on
something like BSD.
This example assumes you have basic knowledge of SSH and how SSH port forwarding works, and are comfortable with the command line.
Let’s assume we have two machines: computer1 and computer2. Benben is installed
on computer1 and is configured to send audio over TCP to localhost:6969.
We want to hear that audio on computer2. The first thing we want to do is
connect to computer1 from computer2 using SSH and forwarding the proper port.
So let’s start on computer2:
[user@computer2]$ ssh -L 6969:computer1:6969 computer1
Next, on computer1, we launch Benben with the TCP driver. This will cause it to open a socket on computer1 port 6969:
[user@computer1]$ benben --driver tcp cool-song.mp3
Audio is now ready to be transmitted over port 6969. Since we’ve forwarded it
over SSH, this port is now available on computer2. So, back on computer2, we
then use netcat and aplay to receive the audio and play it. Note that we
have to tell aplay the format, the number of channels, and the sample
rate because this is raw audio that we’re sending:
[user@computer2]$ nc localhost 6969 | aplay -f FLOAT_LE -c 2 -r 44100 -
At this point, the song will begin playing on computer1 and you’ll hear it on
computer2. You can control Benben directly on computer1, or use
remote-benben via your SSH connection to control it. Or, you could even
forward the UNIX domain socket over SSH and tell remote-benben to use the
forwarded socket. At this point, the sky is the limit.
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https://github.com/sinshu/meltysynth/
https://chiselapp.com/user/MistressRemilia/repository/yunosynth/
https://github.com/vgmrips/vgmplay/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glob_(programming)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML