yoloyolo/README.md

NetSynth

Turn network traffic into ambient sound.

NetSynth captures live network traffic (or reads pcap files), classifies packets into 35 protocol families, and synthesizes an ambient MP3 soundscape where each traffic type produces a distinct harmonic drone. A ping sounds different from HTTPS noise, which sounds different from a port scan.

Run it, let it listen, press Ctrl+C, get an audio fingerprint of your network.

Quick Start

# Live capture on eth0 (requires root or CAP_NET_RAW)
sudo netsynth -i eth0

# Press Ctrl+C after a few seconds → saves netsynth-<timestamp>.mp3

# Sonify a pcap file (no privileges needed)
netsynth --read capture.pcap -o output.mp3

# Filter to DNS traffic only
sudo netsynth -i eth0 --filter "port 53" -o dns.mp3

# Use a custom sound config
sudo netsynth -i eth0 --config my-sounds.toml

# Print effective config as a starting template
netsynth --print-config > my-sounds.toml

Installation

Prerequisites

• Go 1.24+
• C compiler (GCC or Clang) — required for MP3 encoding (CGo)

Build from Source

git clone https://codeberg.org/gurix/yoloyolo.git
cd yoloyolo
go build -o netsynth ./cmd/netsynth

For a smaller binary:

go build -ldflags="-s -w" -o netsynth ./cmd/netsynth

Privileges

Live packet capture requires elevated privileges on Linux:

# Option A: run as root
sudo ./netsynth -i eth0

# Option B: grant capability (preferred)
sudo setcap cap_net_raw=eip ./netsynth
./netsynth -i eth0

Usage

netsynth [flags]

Flag	Description
-i, --interface	Network interface to capture on
--read	Read packets from a pcap file instead of live capture
-o, --output	Output MP3 file path (default: netsynth-<timestamp>.mp3)
--filter	BPF filter expression, tcpdump syntax (e.g. "port 53")
--config	Path to a TOML config file for custom sound mappings
--print-config	Print the full effective config as commented TOML and exit
--verbose	Print per-window protocol activity to stderr
--list-interfaces	List available network interfaces and exit

Examples

# Capture all traffic, verbose per-window output
sudo netsynth -i wlan0 --verbose

# Only HTTPS traffic
sudo netsynth -i eth0 --filter "tcp port 443" -o https.mp3

# Sonify a Wireshark capture (output derived: capture.pcap -> capture.mp3)
netsynth --read capture.pcap

# Filter a pcap file to UDP only
netsynth --read traffic.pcap --filter "udp" -o udp-only.mp3

# Use a custom sound config
sudo netsynth -i eth0 --config ~/my-sounds.toml

# Print the full effective config (great for creating a template)
netsynth --print-config > my-sounds.toml

Custom Sound Configuration

NetSynth supports TOML config files to override the default sound mappings per traffic class. You can change the frequency and waveform for any class, define your own classification rules, and inspect the effective config — all without affecting defaults you don't touch.

Config File Discovery

NetSynth looks for config files in this order (first found wins):

1. --config <path> flag (error if file does not exist)
2. ./netsynth.toml in the current working directory
3. ~/.config/netsynth/config.toml

If no config is found, NetSynth starts silently with built-in defaults.

Config File Format

# Override sound settings per traffic class.
# Only the fields you set are changed — everything else keeps its default.

[sounds.ICMP]
frequency = 80.0        # Hz (default: 65.4)
waveform = "triangle"   # sine, square, sawtooth, or triangle

[sounds.HTTPS]
frequency = 200.0

[sounds.DNS]
waveform = "square"

Available Traffic Classes

35 built-in classes organized by protocol family:

Family	Classes
Infrastructure	ICMP, DNS, NTP, DHCP, mDNS, SSDP, SNMP, LDAP, Kerberos, Syslog
Web	HTTPS, HTTP, QUIC
Mail	SMTP, IMAP, POP3, SMTP-Sub
Remote Access	SSH, RDP, Telnet, VNC
File Transfer	FTP, SMB, TFTP
Database	MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB
Discovery	mDNS, SSDP, SNMP
VoIP	SIP
Unknown	OtherTCP, OtherUDP, Unknown1-Unknown4

Available Waveforms

Waveform	Character
sine	Pure, clean fundamental tone
square	Hollow, buzzy (odd harmonics)
sawtooth	Bright, rich (all harmonics)
triangle	Soft, mellow (odd harmonics, fast rolloff)

All waveforms use bandlimited additive synthesis to prevent aliasing artifacts.

Custom Classification Rules

Define your own traffic classification rules using [[rules]] blocks. User-defined rules fire before built-in rules (first-match-wins):

# Match internal API traffic on port 8080
[[rules]]
protocol = "tcp"
port = 8080
class = "InternalAPI"

# Match all UDP traffic (port omitted = match any)
[[rules]]
protocol = "udp"
class = "AllUDP"

# Optionally customize the sound for your custom class
[sounds.InternalAPI]
frequency = 1500.0
waveform = "sawtooth"

Custom classes that don't have a [sounds.*] entry automatically get a unique frequency in the 2500-4000 Hz range.

Print Config

Inspect the full effective configuration (defaults merged with your overrides):

# Print defaults (useful as a starting template)
netsynth --print-config

# Print with your overrides applied
netsynth --config my-sounds.toml --print-config

# Save as a template to edit
netsynth --print-config > template.toml

The output includes (default), (override), and (auto-assigned) annotations so you can see what's customized. Classes are grouped by protocol family with section headers.

Group Reassignment

You can reassign protocols to different sound families using the [groups] table:

[groups]
DNS = "Web"          # Move DNS from Infrastructure to Web family
SIP = "Infrastructure"  # Move SIP from VoIP to Infrastructure

Reassigned protocols inherit the waveform character of their new family in --print-config output.

Validation

• Unknown keys are rejected at startup with an error naming the bad key (catches typos like frequncy)
• Unknown class names produce a warning but do not prevent startup
• Invalid waveform values are rejected with a clear error

How It Works

NetSynth processes traffic through a four-stage pipeline:

Capture -> Classify -> Aggregate -> Synthesize -> MP3

1. Capture — Packets are read from a live interface (via go-pcap) or a pcap file. Optional BPF filtering reduces the stream to traffic of interest.

2. Classify — Each packet is matched against 35 built-in protocol rules across 9 families (Infrastructure, Web, Mail, Remote Access, File Transfer, Database, Discovery, VoIP) plus any user-defined rules from the config file. User rules fire first. Unrecognized traffic is deterministically hash-bucketed into 4 "unknown" classes so it still produces distinct sounds.

3. Aggregate — Classified packets are grouped into 500ms time windows. Each window records per-protocol packet counts that drive synthesis amplitudes.

4. Synthesize & Encode — Each traffic class maps to an oscillator with ADSR envelope shaping, LFO modulation, and stereo positioning. Sustained protocols (HTTPS, SSH) fade in/out over seconds; bursty protocols (DNS, ICMP) produce short percussive accents. All layers are soft-limited and encoded to MP3 via LAME.

Sound Design

Protocols are grouped into families that share a waveform type and frequency register, making related traffic sound cohesive while remaining distinguishable. Frequencies are tuned to a C major pentatonic scale (just intonation) so that any combination of simultaneously active protocols sounds harmonically consonant.

Family	Waveform	Frequency Range	Protocols
Infrastructure	Triangle	65-147 Hz (C2-D3)	ICMP, NTP, DHCP, mDNS, SSDP, SNMP, DNS
Web	Sawtooth	164-218 Hz (E3-A3)	HTTPS, HTTP, QUIC
Mail	Triangle	262-392 Hz (C4-G4)	SMTP, IMAP, POP3, SMTP-Sub
Remote Access	Square	436-654 Hz (A4-E5)	SSH, RDP, Telnet, VNC
File Transfer	Square	784-1047 Hz (G5-C6)	FTP, SMB, TFTP
Unknown	Custom	1175-2349 Hz (D6-D7)	Unknown1-4, OtherTCP, OtherUDP
Database	Sawtooth	2616-4186 Hz (E7-C8)	MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB
VoIP	Sine	4704 Hz (D8)	SIP
Infrastructure (ext.)	Triangle	5232-6534 Hz	LDAP, Kerberos, Syslog

Synthesis Features

• ADSR envelopes — Sustained protocols (HTTPS, SSH, streaming) fade in over 2 seconds and release over 4 seconds, creating ambient pads. Bursty protocols (DNS, ICMP, NTP) have a fast 30ms attack with no sustain, producing percussive pluck-like accents on each burst.
• LFO modulation — Each protocol group has unique, incommensurable pitch and tremolo LFO rates (Eno technique). Pitch wobbles by a few cents; amplitude pulses gently. The combined modulation pattern never repeats, keeping the soundscape evolving.
• Soft limiter — A tanh-based soft limiter on the master output prevents harsh clipping during traffic spikes while preserving dynamic range.
• Bandlimited additive synthesis — All waveforms (sine, square, sawtooth, triangle) use harmonics below Nyquist to prevent aliasing.
• Constant-power stereo panning — Bass frequencies center, mid-range spreads, higher frequencies pan wider.

The result is an evolving ambient soundscape — not static drones. A typical browsing session produces warm, breathing HTTPS pads with percussive DNS plucks on page loads and gentle ICMP pulses as a periodic heartbeat. All frequencies, waveforms, and group assignments can be overridden via the config file.

Project Structure

cmd/netsynth/   CLI entry point (Cobra)
capture/        Packet capture, BPF validation, pcap file reading
classify/       Protocol classification rules and types
aggregate/      Time-window aggregation and summary output
synth/          Oscillators, waveforms, ADSR envelopes, LFO modulation, stereo mixer, tone bank
config/         TOML config loading, validation, and partial merge
encode/         MP3 encoding via embedded LAME

Dependencies

Library	Purpose
gopacket/gopacket	Packet decoding
packetcap/go-pcap	Pure Go live capture (no libpcap)
sjzar/go-lame	MP3 encoding (embedded LAME C source)
spf13/cobra	CLI framework
BurntSushi/toml	TOML config parsing

No runtime dependencies beyond the compiled binary. CGo is required at build time only (for LAME).

Testing

go test ./... -v

All tests run without root privileges (capture tests use mock data and programmatically generated pcap files).

License

See LICENSE for details.