Automatic Audio Streaming with VBAN Packet Detection (Linux VBAN Receiver)

Introduction

The scripts in this repository are additional, created with the intention of enhancing a set up from the blog post by Stanley Solutions. I highly recommend you to follow through his process before continuing with the steps mentioned below. He describes what VBAN is, initial setup with Voicemeeter/VBAN capable software, and gets you up to speed with the initial set-up.

My script aims to build off Stanley's approach of facilitating a VBAN Audio stream from a remote transmission to a Raspberry Pi/Linux device.

Transparency: Most of this app was created with AI assistance, as I seek to find solutions to my problems in creative ways. After finding use of such a tool, it is only fair to share it with others who may benefit in the same way.

The highlighted enhancements of my project include:

• A more efficient means of obtaining an IP address for the target stream: This means that after initial setup, it should be purely plug and play. You power the device (Raspberry Pi) on, and it finds the network stream (from a Desktop Computer, in my case). The largest benefit to this is that DHCP won't be able to mess things up if your IP addresses frequently change. You should only have to set the stream on your transmission device, which involves knowing the IP address of the Raspberry Pi/Linux device, but the Linux device will use TCPDump to identify the stream transmission over a certain port number, locating the right IP address and taking out the guess work.

• Ability to statically assign an IP address if a stream is not available or unable to be automatically located: With the update_ip shell script in this project, you will be able to manually provide an IP address without having to fuss with services or long, hard to memorize, commands. There may also be scripts added in the future to assist with editing command parameters. Currently the command is hardcoded to play out of the default device, with Alsa, at the highest latency.

Requirements

• Raspberry Pi (or similar device), will be receiving the audio
• Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection
• Speakers to send audio out of the 3.5mm jack on the Pi/transmission device
• VBAN-capable audio streaming device (VBAN transmitter via Voicemeeter / VB-Audio Matrix, etc.,), something to transmit from.
• TCPDump
• Python3
• Scapy, Python Library

Setting Up

On your VBAN Transmitter, pick and remember a stream name. In my example, my stream is "StereoPi", correlating with the blog post mentioned above from Stanley Solutions. You will have to change the scripts to account for whatever the name is. This repository may eventually have a bash script to help you with this change. Stay posted.

Update/Upgrade repositories:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Install TCPDump

sudo apt-get install TCPDump -y

Install Python3

sudo apt-get install Python3 -y

Install Python Libraries

sudo pip install scapy

Download Scripts

• vban.py
• start_vban.sh

Download Services

• vbanstart.service

Running the Script

VBAN Stream Detection: - Run the vban.py script:

python3 ./vban.py

Automatic Startup Services:

To ensure the VBAN receiver starts on boot, we'll set up a systemd service:

1. Create a Service File:
   • Open a terminal and run the following command to create a new service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/vbanstart.service

Paste the following content into the file, then save and exit: (Alternatively you can download and copy the service from this repository into the destination)

[Unit]
Description=Start VBAN Script on Startup

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 10
ExecStart=/bin/bash /path/to/start_vban.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Replace /path/to/vban.py with the actual path to your vban.py script.

Enable The Service:

sudo systemctl enable vbanstart.service

You can also use systemctl start or systemctl stop.

Script to Manually Change Stream IP: You can use the update_ip.sh script to manually enter a stream IP if one was not automatically found or if you prefer a different stream source:

Make the script executable:

sudo chmod +x update_ip.sh

Run the script

sudo ./update_ip.sh

Enter the desired IP address when prompted. Wait for the service to restart.

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Understanding the Script

• vban.py: This script uses the scapy library to detect VBAN audio streams. It listens for UDP packets on port 6980 and executes actions when a stream is detected. It finds the stream with TCPDump.

Troubleshooting

• Library Installation:

  • Ensure you have installed the required library (scapy) using the correct Python environment.

• Not working on restart:

  • If not working on restart, try adding some sleep time on the service before it starts. The network devices may need time to come up and propogate an IP address before TCPDump can start looking for VBAN packets.

Conclusion

With this setup, you can automate tasks based on the presence of a VBAN audio stream. This can be extended to perform various actions based on different audio inputs.

If you found this useful, consider donating toward my other projects, like ReportName.com - a platform that provides an organized approach to reporting cybercrime. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reportname

Blog @ DavidInfosec.com More info on this script: https://davidinfosec.com/post/audio-networking-project/