Announce: WaveInput for Linux

[atca]

ecasound doesn't like -i:alsahw:Loopack,1 I think it has to be -i:alsa:hw:Loopack,1

ecasound: ERROR: [ECA-SESSION] : "Audio object "alsahw:Loopack"

Re: user groups

 ls -l /dev/snd/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       60 2012-07-28 12:59 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 11 2012-07-28 12:59 controlC0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 15 2012-08-17 13:33 controlC2
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 10 2012-07-28 12:59 hwC0D0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  9 2012-07-28 12:59 hwC0D3
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  8 2012-08-17 21:27 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  7 2012-08-17 21:54 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  6 2012-08-17 13:33 pcmC0D1p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  5 2012-07-28 12:59 pcmC0D2c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  4 2012-08-17 13:33 pcmC0D3p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 14 2012-08-17 21:53 pcmC2D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 13 2012-08-18 13:50 pcmC2D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 12 2012-08-17 21:25 pcmC2D1c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  3 2012-08-17 14:40 pcmC2D1p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  2 2012-07-28 12:59 timer

groups squeezeboxserver
squeezeboxserver : nogroup audio

Afterplaying with ecasound I found that it didn't like hw:Loopback,1 but did seem okay with hw:2,1

However LMS returns the following, what's the cause?

[12-08-18 14:18:55.4693] Slim::Player::Song:pen (409) Error: Couldn't create command line for wavin playback for [wavin:hw,2,1]
[12-08-18 14:19:29.6744] Slim::Player::Song:pen (409) Error: Couldn't create command line for wavin playback for [wavin:hw:2,1]

[bpa]

One issue with running arecord is that it stops recording after about 3 hours, basically after having written 2GB.

That is about the maximum size of a file in WAVE format due to the frame count in Wave file header. LMS had this problem with Flac when encoding internet streams into Flac - so standard Flac was patched.
Was arecord output being fed into Flac ? if yes, was it LMS version of Flac or standard Flac ?

[ralphy]

Then you need use this for the tune in url wavin:hw,Loopback,1

Not wavin:hw:Loopback,1 ? that's what currently works with arecord.

I'll try wavin:hw,Loopback,1 for ecasound

Yes, arecord uses the colon. ecasound changed the -i alsa format a while ago.

It took me a while to figure it out.

ecasound -i:alsahw,Loopback,1 -C -D -d:0 -o:stdout

arecord -q -f cd -D hw:Loopback,1 -t wav -

[ralphy]

That is about the maximum size of a file in WAVE format due to the frame count in Wave file header. LMS had this problem with Flac when encoding internet streams into Flac - so standard Flac was patched.
Was arecord output being fed into Flac ? if yes, was it LMS version of Flac or standard Flac ?

It was/is SqueezeCenter 7.3.4 flac.

However, I also tried to use arecord to capture audio directly to a wave file and it still dies after 2GB.

With ecasound I can stream for days at a time.

[atca]

Yes, arecord uses the colon. ecasound changed the -i alsa format a while ago.

It took me a while to figure it out.

ecasound -i:alsahw,Loopback,1 -C -D -d:0 -o:stdout

arecord -q -f cd -D hw:Loopback,1 -t wav -

Thanks think I've got to the same understanding now.

Ok so, arecord -D hw:loopback,1 -f cd | aplay -D hw:0 -f cd works and I get sound locally on the server, when I use arecord with WavInput I get sound on the Squeezebox but with hiss and 1 out of 3 attempts static.

Taking a step back I am trying to get ecasound to take the shairplay stream and output to the speakers on the server before taking the leap to Squeezebox.

2,1 is the output of the loopback
0,1 is definitely my server soundcard headphone jack

I'm trying the following command to output to the speakers under a trial and error of all sorts of user accounts / permissions yet to no avail so the issue lies with alsa / ecasound I think:

ecasound -C -D -ddd -i:alsa,hw,2:1 -o:alsa,hw,0:1
ecasound -C -D -ddd -i:alsahw,2,1 -o:alsahw,0,1

Thanks Ralph for your input so far, I will crack this at somepoint.

[atca]

Cool got it working under ecasound with 8-9 seconds lag. hurrah

Shairport under both arecord and ecasound:
sudo perl /usr/bin/shairport/shairport.pl -v -a "Squeezebox Airplay" --ao_driver alsa --ao_devicename=hw:Loopback,0

arecord settings:
LMS Favourite is wavin:hw:Loopback,1

#
# wavin
#
wavin pcm * * 
 # R
 [arecord] -d0 -c2 -f S16_LE -r 44100 -twav -D $FILE$ 
wavin mp3 * *
 # RB:{BITRATE=-B %B}
 [arecord] -d0 -c2 -f S16_LE -r 44100 -twav -D $FILE$ | [lame] --silent -r -x -q $QUALITY$ -b $BITRATE$ - -
wavin flc * * 
 # R
 [arecord] -d0 -c2 -f S16_LE -r 44100 -twav -D $FILE$ | [flac] -cs --totally-silent --endian=little --channels=2 --sign=signed --bps=16 --sample-rate=44100 --compression-level-0 -

ecasound settings:
LMS Favourite is wavin:hw,2,1 note: ecasound didn't like wavin:hw,Loopback,1 or wavin:hw,loopback,1

#
#wavin
#
wavin pcm * *
        # R
        [ecasound] -D -dd -q -z:db -b:4096 -f:16,2,44100 -eadb:-60 -i:alsahw,2,1 -o stdout "$@" 2>/tmp/ecasound.log 
wavin mp3 * *
        # RB:{BITRATE=-B %B}
        [ecasound] -D -dd -q -z:db -b:4096 -f:16,2,44100 -eadb:-60 -i:alsahw,2,1 -o stdout "$@" 2>/tmp/ecasound.log | [lame] --silent -r -x -q $QUALITY$ -b $BITRATE$ - -
wavin flc * *
        # R
        [ecasound] -D -dd -q -z:db -b:4096 -f:16,2,44100 -eadb:-60 -i:alsahw,2,1 -o stdout "$@" 2>/tmp/ecasound.log   | [flac] -cs --totally-silent --endian=little --channels=2 --sign=signed --bps=16 --sample-rate=44100 --compression-level-0 -

the ecasound error log can be read with (this was really helpful) sudo tail -f -n 20 /tmp/ecasound.log

I still have some hiss on the ecasound and arecord streams, all other pulse and alsa input interfaces are muted. When the music stream is stopped on shairplay the hiss disappears which leads me to think the gain on the shairplay stream needs to be attenuated [EDIT this turned out to make no difference]. That said the sound on the pipe has no hiss at all which suggest my speculation is incorrect. Now I have all three options working I'll see if I can improve the latency on the pipe. Thanks both for your time so far.

I wonder if the lame compression is introducing the noise? The pcm stream is clean no hiss at all that I can discernl. The pcm stream only has a 6 second delay.

So in summary the Atom D330 can encode Airplay:
- via alsa loopback with ecasound to lame on the fly but this seems to introduce noise and a 8 second delay
- via alsa loopback with ecasound to pcm on the fly without noise and a 6 second delay
- via raw pipe with ecasound to lame on the fly without noise and a 30 second delay

It cannot:
- under my Ubuntu 10.04 setup to convert to flac on the fly via alsa loopback or the pipe (not powerful enough?!)
- pass the raw pipe to the squeezebox via pcm, this leads to huge delays and lots of stuttering. I thought this was bandwidth related but it cannot be if the pcm stream plays using the alsaloop back mechanism.

So I'll be sticking with alsa loopback, ecasound and pcm until I can reduce the delay on the pipe.

[cobbr2]

I have a vortexbox from the first generation (yum upgraded over time to vortexbox 1.10), and wanted a way to feed audio straight in the pink jack in the front for live playing. All I really needed to do was install the plugin and make sure squeezeboxserver (LMS) had permission to use the audio subsystem; then I played with alsamixer to improve the quality.

The steps I used:

1. Install the plugin using the Squeezebox server settings page (I'm on Logitech Media Server Version: 7.7.0 - r33626 @ Sun Dec 4 16:28:24 EST 2011)
2. Log into the vortexbox using ssh
3. sudo bash (use the Vortexbox how-tos to figure out how to do this)
4. edit (I use vi, but you may want to use nano) /etc/group
5. find the line with "audio" on it, and add ",squeezeboxserver" to the list of folks in the group. If there aren't any, don't use the comma
6. So you can do your own hacking around on this later, put your own name on that list (comma first)
7. From the vortexbox control panel, stop squeezebox server
8. Verify that it actually stopped by using "ps -ef | grep squeezeboxserver |grep -v grep" in your command line. Mine didn't (the command showed something; if the process is dead, that command won't show anything).
9. Really kill it and restart it. Either use the Unix "kill" command on the process you were just told about, then start it again from the Vortexbox GUI, or reboot your vortexbox using the system menu
10. At this point, when I entered wavin:default on the Tune-in URL, I got sound. You might not get so lucky. THe right utility for me was "alsamixer", which with some playing around got me going. I needed:
    
    • On the capture controls (I just use alsamixer --all so I can see all the controls and don't run into problems with my Macintosh not forwarding function keys), I needed the front mic set at about 2/3rds, and the 'digital' at about a 40.
    • On all the playbacks, I turned everything off. For line-level inputs, I definitely neeeded to turn off any front mic boost.
11. Sound's still not great, but adequate for my purposes; I'm testing with a fairly crappy source. Lag's a few seconds.

[Juggler]

Ubuntu 12.04
WaveInput 1.04

I've set up my LMS favourite with wavin:default (also tried wavin:hw,Loopback,1). When I click the "Play" arrow, nothing happens. It appears that LMS isn't recognizing this as a proper URL. I'm assuming the expected behaviour should be for it to start playing...

Can anyone point me to some pointers here?

many thanks,
J>

[bpa]

Are you using Pulse audio ? If so have you added the user id which is running LMS to the appropriate user group to give access to audio ?

Have you tested the audio setup and that you can record the audio stream (e.g. check using Audacity) ? Sometimes you need to use the Alsa mixer to get the correct levels.

[Juggler]

I did a little more digging, and ran tail -f /var/log/squeeboxserver/server.log to see what would appear when I clicked on the associated "Play" of the LMS favourite I created with wavin:default. The associate output is below... I see no obvious errors apart from the first line. Again, when I click the associated "Play", nothing happens.

Insight appreciated...

[12-09-14 21:03:35.4797] Slim::Utils::Misc::fixPath (580) Error: Dealing with single audiodir (/zfspool1/media/music) instead of mediadirs ["/zfspool1/media/music"]
[12-09-14 21:03:35.4806] Slim::Utils::Misc::fixPath (580) Backtrace:

   frame 0: Slim::Utils::Log::logBacktrace (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Utils/Misc.pm line 580)
   frame 1: Slim::Utils::Misc::fixPath (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Control/Commands.pm line 1411)
   frame 2: Slim::Control::Commands::playlistXitemCommand (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Control/Request.pm line 1884)
   frame 3: (eval) (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Control/Request.pm line 1884)
   frame 4: Slim::Control::Request::execute (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Control/Request.pm line 881)
   frame 5: Slim::Control::Request::executeRequest (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Player/Client.pm line 648)
   frame 6: Slim::Player::Client::execute (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Web/XMLBrowser.pm line 623)
   frame 7: Slim::Web::XMLBrowser::handleFeed (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Web/XMLBrowser.pm line 55)
   frame 8: Slim::Web::XMLBrowser::handleWebIndex (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Plugin/Favorites/Plugin.pm line 318)
   frame 9: Slim::Plugin::Favorites::Plugin::indexHandler (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Web/HTTP.pm line 1101)
   frame 10: Slim::Web::HTTP::generateHTTPResponse (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Web/HTTP.pm line 924)
   frame 11: Slim::Web::HTTP::processURL (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Web/HTTP.pm line 734)
   frame 12: Slim::Web::HTTP::processHTTP (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Networking/IO/Select.pm line 139)
   frame 13: (eval) (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Networking/IO/Select.pm line 123)
   frame 14: Slim::Networking::IO::Select::__ANON__ (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Networking/IO/Select.pm line 184)
   frame 15: (eval) (/usr/share/perl5/Slim/Networking/IO/Select.pm line 184)
   frame 16: Slim::Networking::IO::Select::loop (/usr/sbin/squeezeboxserver line 695)
   frame 17: main::idle (/usr/sbin/squeezeboxserver line 645)
   frame 18: main::main (/usr/sbin/squeezeboxserver line 1158)