The Voice Props System
Rust's music and audio toys come from the Voice Props pack -- a paid DLC -- so be aware these specific items aren't part of the free base game (worth knowing before you go looking for them). The pack adds a Cassette Recorder, the Boom Box (a speaker that plays tapes AND streams internet radio), small wall speakers, a megaphone, and a microphone stand, which combine with the in-game instruments.
Together they let you record audio, broadcast it across your base or compound, perform with instruments, and amplify your voice -- mostly for fun and roleplay, but with a couple of genuinely useful tactical tricks covered below.
The Cassette Recorder
The Cassette Recorder is the capture device. Insert a cassette and:
- Left-click (attack) PLAYS the recorded track.
- Right-click (attack2) RECORDS new audio.
- +reload THROWS the recorder.
A key detail: to record your own VOICE, you have to hold the voice-chat button while recording -- otherwise the cassette just captures whatever ambient sounds are around it. That ambient capture is where the creativity lives: record the beeps and blast of an explosive charge to unnerve a base owner, or set up a fake "answering machine" message for annoying neighbours. (The blueprint is known by default; you only research it to get a physical blueprint for the Industrial Crafter.)
The Boom Box & Speakers
The Boom Box is the playback and broadcast device. It plays your recorded cassettes, and -- its more interesting trick -- it can stream REAL internet radio from a set of preinstalled URLs. There's a portable version and a deployable one.
The deployable Boom Box wires into your base power grid for 10 electricity, and it has a power OUTPUT: you can connect up to 15 small wall speakers around your base at 1 electricity each to fill a whole compound with sound.
Two durability catches: the Boom Box DECAYS while it's actively playing music, and overloading it with too many speakers also drains its durability -- so don't blast 24/7 or wire every wall unless you're happy to replace it.
Instruments & Custom Music
Beyond recordings, Rust has playable instruments -- guitars, drums, and more -- that you perform on directly. The community plays full songs through them using MIDI files routed into the instruments (there are tools and tutorials for downloading MIDI and mapping it to Rust's instrument controls).
The full creative pipeline ties everything together: play a track on instruments (or via MIDI), RECORD that output onto a cassette with the Cassette Recorder, then BROADCAST it through a Boom Box and its connected wall speakers. That's how players run a custom in-base radio station or pump a signature track across their compound -- compose, capture, broadcast.
Tactical & Fun Uses
The audio gear isn't purely decorative -- there are real edges:
- Sound-masking defence: blast loud music through a Boom Box and speakers, then turn your OWN voice-prop volume down in the settings. You'll still hear footsteps outside your base clearly, but attackers raiding you get deafened by the noise and usually don't think to turn it down -- a genuine information advantage during a defence.
- Speeches & comms: the microphone stand (voice collector) gives your voice three modes for proper delivery, and the megaphone amplifies you so distant players can hear and understand you -- handy for roleplay servers or rallying a big group.
- Pure fun: throwing the Cassette Recorder onto wall lasers makes them fly -- a silly little physics quirk worth a laugh.
Not essential gear, but a Boom Box wired into a compound adds atmosphere and, run cleverly, a real defensive trick.