chipstream

chipstream is a toolkit suite for running and working with retro sound chips. This repository is organized as a monorepo containing multiple crates and provides utilities for building and parsing register-write logs such as the VGM (Video Game Music) format.

Crates

Crate	Type	Description	Documentation
chipstream	lib	Sound-chip emulation and device-independent VGM/MDX playback.	README
chipstream-gstreamer	plugin	GStreamer source for VGM/MDX playback through chipstream.	README
cstools	bin	VGM/VGZ, MDX, and MML player using chipstream.	README
nddrv	bin	Desktop VGM/VGZ and MDX library and player using GPUI Kit.	README
mmlx	lib	MML parser and compiler; currently supports MXDRV MML input and MDX output.	README
ndsif	lib	I/O-independent, allocation-free NDSIF protocol codec.	README
ndsif-transport	lib	Serial NDSIF transport and chipstream backend integration.	README
soundlog	lib	Parses and builds sound logs and converts MDX playback to VGM commands.	README
soundlog-cli	bin	Command-line tools for working with soundlog-supported formats.	README
soundlog-gui	bin	soundlog-inspector GUI for inspecting soundlog-supported audio files.	README

Quick Start

Installation

Install the soundlog binary from this repository with Cargo:

Rust 1.97.1 or later is required.

To build the VGM player and play a file:

cargo run --release -p cstools --bin csplay -- example.vgm

Linux builds require ALSA development headers; see the cstools README.

cargo install --git https://github.com/h1romas4/chipstream --bin soundlog --locked --force soundlog-cli

Optionally install the GUI inspector:

cargo install --git https://github.com/h1romas4/chipstream --bin soundlog-inspector --locked --force soundlog-gui

NDDRV

Install the NDDRV desktop player:

cargo install --git https://github.com/h1romas4/chipstream --bin nddrv --locked --force nddrv

For platform prerequisites, including ALSA development libraries on Linux, see the NDDRV README.

soundlog

soundlog --help

Command-line tools for soundlog.

Usage: soundlog <COMMAND>

Commands:
  test         Test a VGM or VGZ file with a parse/build round trip and display its header
  redump       Re-dump a VGM or VGZ file, expanding DAC streams to chip writes
  parse        Parse a VGM or VGZ file and display its commands, offsets, and lengths
  completions  Generate shell completion scripts
  stream       Stream a VGM or VGZ file and display its register writes and detected events
  mdx          MDX file operations
  pdx          PDX file operations
  help         Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options:
  -h, --help     Print help
  -V, --version  Print version

For detailed usage instructions, please refer to crates/soundlog-cli.

soundlog-inspector

For GUI usage instructions, please refer to crates/soundlog-gui.

License

Each crate in this repository follows its own LICENSE file or the license field declared in its Cargo.toml.