Announce: WaveInput for Linux

[bpa]

I've done some checking about PulseAudio - separately there are issues about the Spotify windows client and how it uses Windows audio which I think will require a specific startup sequence.


Need to get WaveInput working with Pulseaudio. I think the issue is config and permissions. I haven't had time to test on my system but is your system set up as follows:

1. the userid "squeezecenter" needs to be added to the pulse-access group.

2. Pulseaudio is running as a system wide daemon as Squeezecenter may be running as a service/daemon and under a separate userid and session compared to the user running the audio application (e.g. Spotify ).

[ormtunga]

I've done some checking about PulseAudio - separately there are issues about the Spotify windows client and how it uses Windows audio which I think will require a specific startup sequence.


Need to get WaveInput working with Pulseaudio. I think the issue is config and permissions. I haven't had time to test on my system but is your system set up as follows:

1. the userid "squeezecenter" needs to be added to the pulse-access group.

2. Pulseaudio is running as a system wide daemon as Squeezecenter may be running as a service/daemon and under a separate userid and session compared to the user running the audio application (e.g. Spotify ).

Haha, yes, thank you. Finally. I killed the pulseaudio process that apparantly runs in user mode, then I started it with 'sudo pulseaudio --system' which made the pulseaudio server avaialable to all users, I added the user squeezecenter to the three groups related to pulseaudio (pulse, pulse-rt, pulse-access) and woila it works. Its not a permanent solution though but it shouldn't be too hard to modify the boot up scripts to launch pulseaudio in system-wide mode.

The sound was a little bit choppy as well, maybe it works better with ecasound. I can try and write a small guide later in case there are other users struggling with the plugin and pulseaudio

[bpa]

To change system start up, edit /etc/default/pulseaudio like this which is opposite to installed setting.

PULSEAUDIO_SYSTEM_START=1
DISALLOW_MODULE_LOADING=0


Do NOT add users to group "Pulse" - that is a special group. Only pulse-access and possibly pulse-rt (realtime)

[bpa]

The issues is usually not just the hardware but also the distro.

Which distro are you using ?

[erikl]

The issues is usually not just the hardware but also the distro.

Which distro are you using ?

I am using ubuntu 8.10. Installed from mini.iso so I have no pulse audio.

You write on page 1 that "...the stream could be a virtual soundcard (e.g. on a PC with no real audio hardware)." This would be perfect for me since I only need the audio to go to the squeezebox and not through the soundcard. I have been doing some research and have not been able to find a way to achieve this. Is this really possible?

[bpa]

I didn't work the full solution but it was more in the context of a PC with NO audio hardware (e.g. NAS) as then the user can install their own kernel modules.

If you have audio hardware then you will need a different solution. If you wish to route audio from a specific application - then I suspect pulse audio would be to be best current solution. The applicable solution will also depend on the application as some application expects OSS whereas other support ALSA or Pulse directly.

[erikl]

Now I finally found the solution that works for me.

I did this by adding a "virtual soundcard" using the alsa driver snd-aloop. http://www.alsa-project.org/main/ind...x:Module-aloop

-First I added the user squeezecenter to the audio group. "usermod -aG audio squeezecenter"

-Then inserted the snd_aloop module with "modprobe snd-aloop". This gives a new card in alsa. In my case card 1.

-I made my application play through the device hw:1,0.

-And added wavin:hw:1,1 to squeezecenter favorites.

This solution will work if you have no sound card or as in my case where I have a soundcard and I do not want to put the audio through it but only through squeezecenter.

I have seen solutions that routes the audio through the soundcard also. Check this page for an example. http://dev.inzenet.org/~panard/hack_record_hda_sound

[bpa]

That's great - I never tracked down the alsa virtual soundcard. A near alternative I found for apps which use OSS was vsound ( http://www.vsound.org/history.php ) but it is not as good as your solution.

The "audio" group issue may depend on the distro and so may vary from distro to distro.

[Veggen]

I am having trouble getting the plugin to work.
The installation seems ok. I can see WaveInput(v1.03) ticked off under plugins and the file types are activated.
When I try to play wavin:default there is no sound, and I get the below message in the terminal window.

[root@localhost vegar]# ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or folder
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or folder
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or folder
ALSA lib conf.c:3985:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or folder
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
arecord: main:590: audio open error: No such file or folder

I suspect the problem may be that I have two soundcards; the integrated one on the motherboard, and a soundblaster live which I am actually using and trying to get wavin to stream.

arecord -l reports this:

[vegar@localhost ~]$ arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ICH5 [Intel ICH5], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel ICH5]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: ICH5 [Intel ICH5], device 1: Intel ICH - MIC ADC [Intel ICH5 - MIC ADC]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: ICH5 [Intel ICH5], device 2: Intel ICH - MIC2 ADC [Intel ICH5 - MIC2 ADC]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: ICH5 [Intel ICH5], device 3: Intel ICH - ADC2 [Intel ICH5 - ADC2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Live [Dell Sound Blaster Live!], device 0: emu10k1x [EMU10K1X Front]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

How can I get wavin to stream from card 1 instead of card 0?

Any input or ideas would be most welcome.

[bpa]

As per the instructions in the first post of this thread - use the Alsa name for the stream.

I think you should try using wavin:hw(1,0)

Do a test with arecord as the plugin uses arecord.