Benben

Benben is a command line VGM player and VGM->WAV converter for Linux that uses my YunoSynth library for its VGM playback engine. It is written entirely in the Crystal programming language.

Source Code Repository Releases, including Linux x86-64 AppImage downloads

Example videos

• Sega Genesis/Mega Drive - Elemental Master - “Like The Wind”
• MSX - Impact MuSiX Disk #2 - “Ending 0.01”
• Sega Genesis/Mega Drive - Sonic the Hedgehog - “Green Hill Zone”
• Arcade - Toki - Stage 1 music
• Arcade - After Burner II - “After Burner (Melody Version)”
• Neo Geo - Metal Slug X - “Judgement -X-”
• X68000 - Granada - “Advance ‘GRANADA’ (Opening Theme)”
• PC-98 - Rusty - “Queen in The Night”
• PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 - Soldier Blade - “Operation 1”
• Benben rendering 61 files in parallel to WAV

This example includes added reverb to show off the reverb effect:

• Arcade - Soul Edge - “Epic Calling!”

Example Usage

# Play a VGM file and stop after it finishes
$ benben "Cool Song.vgz"

# Play a VGM and loop twice
$ benben --loop 2 "Another Cool Song.vgz"

# Render multiple VGM files to WAVs in parallel
$ benben --render *.vgz

# Show the help information
$ benben --help

# Show version information
$ benben --version

# List reverb presets for "MVerb"
$ benben --reverb-type mverb --reverb-preset list

Notable Features

• PulseAudio and PortAudio backends
• High-performance playback.
• Multiple files can be specified and they will play one after the other.
• Song and playlist looping.
• Support for all the chips that supported by YunoSynth.
• Support for uncompressed VGMs, gzip compressed VGMs (.vgz), and additional non-standard formats.
• Support for XSPF and JSPF playlists
• Configuration file support, including support for per-song configurations.
• Rendering multiple files in parallel to either WAV or Au format.
• Support for multiple bit depths and sample rates, and both integer and floating point WAV/AU files.
• Optional effects:
  • Soft clipping.
  • Parametric EQ with an arbitrary number of bands.
  • Stereo enhancement effect.
  • Reverb with selectable type and preset.
• Customizable VU meter
• Keyboard control support