--- name: "xgbsplay" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "gbsplay" version: "0.0.99-1" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/xgbsplay" --- # xgbsplay(1) X11 frontent to Gameboy sound player ## NAME xgbsplay - X11 frontent to Gameboy sound player ## SYNOPSIS **xgbsplay** \[*OPTION*\]... \[*--*\] *GBS-FILE* \[*START-AT-SUBSONG* \[*STOP-AFTER-SUBSONG*\] \] ## DESCRIPTION **xgbsplay** emulates the sound hardware of the Nintendo Gameboy. It is able to play the sounds from a Gameboy module dump (.GBS format) over */dev/dsp* and other sound drivers. ## OPTIONS - **-E** *endian* Set endianness to *endian*. Valid values are **b**, **l** and **n** for big, little and native endian respectively. - **-f** *fadeout-time* Set fadeout time to *fadeout-time* seconds. Instead of cutting the subsong off hard, do a soft fadeout. Default value is 3 seconds. - **-g** *subsong-gap* Set subsong gap to *subsong-gap* seconds. Before playing the next subsong after the subsong timeout, *subsong-gap* seconds of silence will be played. Default value is 2 seconds. - **-h** Display short help and exit. - **-H** *filter* Set output high-pass type to *filter*. Valid values are **dmg** (Gameboy Classic), **cgb** (Gameboy Color) and **off** (no filter). Default value is dmg. - **-l** Set loop mode to **range** (see *LOOP MODES* below). - **-L** Set loop mode to **single** (see *LOOP MODES* below). - **-o** *plugin* Select sound output plugin *plugin*. Select **list** to view a list of all available output plugins. Default value depends on compilation options. - **-q** Be quieter, reduce verbosity. Can be applied multiple times. Default verbosity is 3. - **-r** *samplerate* Set the samplerate to *samplerate* Hz. Default value is 44100Hz. - **-R** *refresh-delay* Set the refresh delay to *refresh-delay* milliseconds. Larger values will lower CPU usage, but things as subsong changes, fadeouts and reactions to XEvents will be delayed. Default value is 33 milliseconds. - **-t** *subsong-timeout* Set subsong timeout to *subsong-timeout* seconds. When a subsong has been played for the given time, the player will skip to the next subsong. A timeout of 0 seconds disables automatic subsong changes. Default value is 120 seconds. - **-T** *silence-timeout* Set silence timeout to *silence-timeout* seconds. When a subsong contains silence for the given time, the player will skip to the next subsong. Default value is 2 seconds. - **-v** Increase verbosity, print more information. Can be applied multiple times. Default verbosity is 3. - **-V** Display version number and exit. - **-z** Play subsongs in shuffle mode. Every subsong will be played once in random order. - **-Z** Play subsongs in random mode. Like shuffle mode (*-z*), but a subsong can be played multiple times. - **-1** Mute channel 1 on start. - **-2** Mute channel 2 on start. - **-3** Mute channel 3 on start. - **-4** Mute channel 4 on start. - **--** Marks the end of options. The next argument will be treated as a filename, even when starting with a **-**. - *GBS-FILE* The sound file to play. Must be in uncompressed .GBS format. - *START-AT-SUBSONG* The subsong from the sound file to play first. If not specified, the default song declared in the sound file will be played unless shuffle (*-z*) or random mode (*-Z*) are active. An out-of-bounds number will be clipped to the possible range of subsongs. - *STOP-AFTER-SUBSONG* The last subsong to be played. See *LOOP MODES* below for further details. ## KEYBOARD CONTROL **xgbsplay** supports basic keyboard control. The following commands are recognized: - **p** Skip to the previous subsong. - **n** Skip to the next subsong. - **q** or **Esc** Quit **xgbsplay**. - **Space** Toggle play/pause. - **1** Mute/unmute channel 1. - **2** Mute/unmute channel 2. - **3** Mute/unmute channel 3. - **4** Mute/unmute channel 4. - **l** Cycle through the available loop modes. See *LOOP MODES* below for further details. ## LOOP MODES **xgbsplay** supports different loop modes that govern what happens when a subsong has finished playing. The default loop mode is **none**. When multiple loop modes are set, the last mode set wins. The term *first subsong* refers to the parameter *START-AT-SUBSONG* if it is set, or the first subsong in the file otherwise. The term *next subsong* refers to next subsong in numerical order unless shuffle mode (*-z*) or random mode (*-Z*) are active. The term *last subsong* refers to the parameter *STOP-AFTER-SUBSONG* if it is set and not out-of-bounds, or the last subsong in the file otherwise. - **none** When a subsong has finished playing, the next subsong will start to play. When the last subsong has finished playing, **xgbsplay** will exit. - **range** When a subsong has finished playing, the next subsong will start to play. When the last subsong has finished playing, the fist subsong will start to play again. - **single** When a subsong has finished playing, the same subsong will start to play again. The *STOP-AFTER-SUBSONG* parameter will be ignored as no subsong change can occur. The *subsong-timeout* parameter will be ignored as well, allowing the selected subsong to play endlessly without any forced restarts. ## OUTPUT PLUGINS Output plugins are sometimes called *plugouts* because that's shorter, so don't be confused. Not all of the plugins listed here may be available, see \`*xgbsplay -o list*'. - **alsa** Use the ALSA sound driver for sound output. - **altmidi** Alternative implementation of the MIDI output plugin (see *midi* below). Should export more accurate note off events (the length register is taken into account), but generated MIDI files will be more complicated and fine grained and probably not suitable for editing or printing a score. - **devdsp** Use the OSS sound driver for sound output via */dev/dsp*. - **dsound** Use the DirectSound sound driver for sound output on Microsoft Windows. - **iodumper** Dump IO calls to the Gameboy sound hardware to stdout. This reduces the verbosity to 0 (see *-q*) because stdout is used for the dumped data. - **midi** Write a simple MIDI conversion of the song into a separate file per subsong. The files are called *gbsplay-%d.mid*, where *%d* is replaced with the subsong number. The files are created in the current working directory and existing files are silently overwritten. Only channels 1 to 3 are converted to MIDI, because channel 4 contains noise data that can't be converted into MIDI note events. Every GBS channel is exported to a separate MIDI channel. When multiple voices share a channel, they will not be separated in the output. The conversion is rather basic and complicated GBS files using tricks and hacks will not be converted properly. - **nas** Use the NAS sound driver for sound output to a Network Audio Server. - **pipewire** Use the PipeWire sound driver for sound output. - **pulse** Use the Pulseaudio sound driver for sound output. - **sdl** Use SDL sound driver for sound output. On Microsoft Windows, libSDL might use the *wasapi* audio backend by default which can result in choppy sound. To fix this, set the environment variable *SDL\_AUDIODRIVER* to *directsound* to select a different libSDL audio backend (or switch to the *dsound* plugout instead). - **stdout** Dump the raw audio stream to stdout. This reduces the verbosity to 0 (see *-q*) because stdout is used for the dumped data. The raw audio is always stereo (2 channels), 16 bit signed PCM. Sample rate and endianness can be set via *-r* and *-E*. - **vgm** Write separate VGM files for every subsong. The files are called *gbsplay-%d.vgm*, where *%d* is replaced with the subsong number. The files are created in the current working directory and existing files are silently overwritten. - **wav** Write separate WAV files (RIFF WAVE) for every subsong. The files are called *gbsplay-%d.wav*, where *%d* is replaced with the subsong number. The files are created in the current working directory and existing files are silently overwritten. The output is always encoded as stereo (2 channels), 16 bit signed PCM in little endian (the *-E* switch is ignored). Sample rate can be set via *-r*. ## FILES - */etc/gbsplayrc* Default location of the global configuration file. - *~/.gbsplayrc* User configuration file. ## BUGS If you encounter bugs, please report them via *https://github.com/mmitch/gbsplay/issues* ## AUTHORS **gbsplay** was written by Tobias Diedrich \<*ranma+gbsplay@tdiedrich.de*\> (with contributions from others, see README.md). ## COPYRIGHT **gbsplay** is licensed under GNU GPL v1 or, at your option, any later version. ## SEE ALSO [**gbsplay**(1)](/gbsplay/1.md), [**gbsinfo**(1)](/gbsinfo/1.md), [**gbsplayrc**(5)](/gbsplayrc/5.md)