Provided by: gbsplay_0.0.97-1_amd64 
NAME
gbsplay - Gameboy sound player
SYNOPSIS
gbsplay [options] gbs-file [start-subsong [stop-subsong] ]
DESCRIPTION
gbsplay 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, reactions to keypresses and the on-screen display 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.
gbs-file
The sound file to play. Must be in uncompressed .GBS format.
start-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-subsong
The last subsong to be played. See LOOP MODES below for further details.
KEYBOARD CONTROL
gbsplay 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 gbsplay.
Space Toggle play/pause.
1 Mute/unmute channel 1.
2 Mute/unmute channel 2.
3 Mute/unmute channel 3.
4 Mute/unmute channel 4.
LOOP MODES
gbsplay 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-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-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, gbsplay 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-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 `gbsplay -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
gbsinfo(1), gbsplayrc(5)
Tobias Diedrich 0.0.97ish GBSPLAY(1)