ricmzn / BeepboxSynthesizer

Experimental project integrating https://beepbox.co into Godot using V8 (requires godot-rust)

Introduction

This project uses a custom Rust-based GDExtension library to run the BeepBox/JummBox synthesizer within Godot 4, using V8.

The primary goal is to allow use of smaller music files, as well as experimentation with procedural music (using BeepBox's JavaScript API).

• Rust GDExtension: https://github.com/godot-rust/gdext
• BeepBox: https://github.com/johnnesky/beepbox
• JummBox: https://github.com/jummbus/jummbox (Backward-compatible fork of BeepBox)
• V8: https://github.com/denoland/rusty_v8

Note: the project is currently only tested on Linux, but it should work on Windows if the DLL paths are added to beepbox_synthesizer.gdextension

Building

You will need:

• Rust: https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install
• Node.js: https://nodejs.org

Instructions:

• Build the latest Godot 4 stable release with the AudioStreamGenerator patch added (not required if already fixed upstream)
• Clone this repository with the --recursive flag so submodules are also fetched (more about them: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules)
• Build the JummBox synthesizer
  • Enter dependencies/jummbox and run npm install && npm update && npm run build-synth
  • npm update is only required on NodeJS v18 or later due to some depdendencies being incompatible unless manually updated
• Build the Rust crate .dll/.so by running cargo build in the root of the project
• Run this project with the custom Godot 4 editor build

Troubleshooting

• The editor crashes with SIGILL (Illegal Instruction) on startup!
  • I haven't look into why this happens the first time after setting up the project from a clean state, but usually, building the .dll/.so a second time lets the editor launch correctly.
• I load a JSON, click play, but there is no sound!
  • Make sure you have built and ran Godot with the AudioStreamGenerator patch. The current official release (4.0.2) has no issues playing static audio files, but it will not play script-generated audio until the feature is fixed.