ruxguitar

A guitar pro tablature player.

The design of the application is described in details in the blog article "Playing guitar tablatures in Rust".

Features

• Guitar Pro file support: GP3, GP4, GP5, GP6 (.gpx) and GP7 (.gp)
• MIDI playback with embedded soundfont (or custom soundfont)
• Repeat sections with alternative endings
• Tempo control (25% to 200%)
• Solo mode (isolate single track)
• Track selection
• Keyboard shortcuts:
  • Space play/pause
  • Ctrl+Up / Ctrl+Down tempo up/down
  • Left / Right previous/next measure
  • S toggle solo
  • F11 toggle fullscreen
• Open files via the picker or drag-and-drop

Limitations

• no editing capabilities (read-only player)
• no score notation (tablature only)

Usage

./ruxguitar --help
Guitar pro tablature player

Usage: ruxguitar [OPTIONS]

Options:
      --sound-font-file <SOUND_FONT_FILE>  Optional path to a sound font file
      --tab-file-path <TAB_FILE_PATH>      Optional path to tab file to by-pass the file picker
      --no-antialiasing                    Disable antialiasing
      --theme <THEME>                      Force the color theme [possible values: light, dark]
  -h, --help                               Print help
  -V, --version                            Print version

A basic soundfont is embedded in the binary for a plug and play experience, however it is possible to provide a larger soundfont file to get better sound quality.

For instance I like to use FluidR3_GM.sf2 which is present on most systems and easy to find online (here or there).

./ruxguitar --sound-font-file /usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2

FAQ

• Where can I find guitar pro files?

  • You can find a lot of guitar pro files on the internet. For instance on Ultimate Guitar.

• Why is the sound quality so bad?

  • The default soundfont is very basic. You can provide a better soundfont file using the --sound-font-file option.

• Which dependencies are needed to run the application?

  • Check the necessary dependencies for your system from the CI configuration.

• Why is the file picker not opening on Linux?

  • Install the XDG Destop Portal package for your desktop environment.

• Why are the strings not rendered on the tablature?

  • You might need to disable antialiasing using the --no-antialiasing option.

• Why does the application not follow my desktop's light or dark theme?

  • On macOS and Windows it does. On Linux the windowing layer reports no theme preference, so the application keeps its dark theme. Use --theme light or --theme dark to pick one.

• Does it run on Windows 7 or Windows 8?

  • The last compatible release with those versions of Windows is v0.6.3.

• Why is the sound not working on Linux?

  • Getting the error The requested device is no longer available. For example, it has been unplugged.
  • You are most likely using PulseAudio or Pipewire which are not supported.
  • Install compatibility packages pulseaudio-alsa or pipewire-alsa (requires a restart of the audio service).

Installation

Releases

Using the provided binaries in https://github.com/agourlay/ruxguitar/releases

Or with the install script, which fetches the latest release for your machine:

# macOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://agourlay.github.io/ruxguitar/install.sh | sh

# Windows
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/agourlay/ruxguitar/master/site/install.ps1 | iex

Crates.io

Using Cargo via crates.io.

cargo install ruxguitar

Build

Make sure to check the necessary dependencies for your system from the CI configuration.

Acknowledgements

This project is heavily inspired by the great TuxGuitar project.