Hey i was thinking about a sort of controller (with a arduino) for raspberry pi streamers, which mostly act as keyboard for multimedia controls and maybe (maybe as optional thing) receive data over serial from a little script to display current song/volume etc, just connected over usb so it can be put on desktop with the raspberr pi in its own case
i thought about maybe a 3,5" touchscreen display and do everything over that
beside the usual multimedia controls it would be kinda nice to do more things like, switching inputs, switching radio stations etc, i think the easiest thing would be to still just use the ardiuno as keyboard but bind different key(combinations) to some actions of the streamer via a script, so possibly also easy adjustable to all kind of streamer softwares
unfortunaly browsing the filesystem for example wouldnt be possible but the display connectors needs to be in close proximity to the display and a display on the rpi unit itself would be kinda pointless in my case, i need some seperate station/controller on the desk
is there maybe a way to make a seperate unit with a minimal rpi like the zero 2 and actually couple it with the main rpi over usb?
What you guys think about this idea, would there a more easy way todo things? (maybe a hdmi/touchscreen display? to actually support the streamer interface or should i just settle with a cheap tablet to open the webinterface ? (i think that would be actually the easiest solutions, no software required working out of the box))
i thought about maybe a 3,5" touchscreen display and do everything over that
beside the usual multimedia controls it would be kinda nice to do more things like, switching inputs, switching radio stations etc, i think the easiest thing would be to still just use the ardiuno as keyboard but bind different key(combinations) to some actions of the streamer via a script, so possibly also easy adjustable to all kind of streamer softwares
unfortunaly browsing the filesystem for example wouldnt be possible but the display connectors needs to be in close proximity to the display and a display on the rpi unit itself would be kinda pointless in my case, i need some seperate station/controller on the desk
is there maybe a way to make a seperate unit with a minimal rpi like the zero 2 and actually couple it with the main rpi over usb?
What you guys think about this idea, would there a more easy way todo things? (maybe a hdmi/touchscreen display? to actually support the streamer interface or should i just settle with a cheap tablet to open the webinterface ? (i think that would be actually the easiest solutions, no software required working out of the box))
Well to do what you want (at least with audio streaming) you could adopt roon(not cheap) or Volumio. Both allow a display as part of their streaming capabilities and end points (Ropiee with roon). But, its' far easier and cheaper just to use a cheap tablet to control everything. A few years ago I set up a RPi with an attached 3.5" screen just to see how it worked as a streamer and playback device. I've since built many RPi based streamers, but use tablets as the control device.
So with roon (and volumio?) you can have one rpi with display as streamer and one rpi as endpoint? would the first rpi actually be a "streamer" or just be a "controlpoint" and the endpoint handles all streaming?
yes indeed the tablet seems to be easiest option (and pricewise they are fairly cheap ones out there, maybe with one of those nice wireless charging docking station, like for the amazon fire hd tablet which also acts as a nice "stand" on the desk (like this one https://www.amazon.de/brandneues-ka...3&hvtargid=pla-1318200914157&psc=1&th=1&psc=1), and i also read something about a "always on" mode tho this can be done with android apps too)
is there a easy solution for tablets to basicly "just" show the webinterface in fullscreen? (or just set the browser to fullscreen? i use moode btw) i think the volumio app is probably working already in fullscreen mode, and i actually thought about switching to volumio
tho many say moode sound better, and i also confirmed this like 2-3 years ago, but i did some software tweaks (like underclocking) to make moode sound even better and hope the same tweaks (and maybe some additional ones) to volumio bring it on par to moode, i will test this before making the final switch)
roon is kinda too expensive for my taste to be honest, tho i dont like subscriptions models for players in general, i already have to much subscriptions 😀 (netflix, sky, disney, qobuz....) unfortunaly the volumio lifetime thing was a one time only offer 🙁 one the other side i kinda get it, volumio wouldnt be what it is without subs, compared to the "minimal" moode player it has a whole ecosystem around it (roon too)
i like the "android" as keyboard idea since it would be possible to add a nice rotary encoder as volume control (like those usb volume knobs, but i didnt find one that really fits the bill), maybe this (plus some hardware buttons as multimedia control) in conjuction with a tablet would be the "ultimate" (easy) solution
Do you guys have a recommendation for a nice "minimal" tablet? (i dont like the bloated amazon tablets for example) probably some kind of cheapo (rooted?) android tablet is the way to go to make it really "minimal"
yes indeed the tablet seems to be easiest option (and pricewise they are fairly cheap ones out there, maybe with one of those nice wireless charging docking station, like for the amazon fire hd tablet which also acts as a nice "stand" on the desk (like this one https://www.amazon.de/brandneues-ka...3&hvtargid=pla-1318200914157&psc=1&th=1&psc=1), and i also read something about a "always on" mode tho this can be done with android apps too)
is there a easy solution for tablets to basicly "just" show the webinterface in fullscreen? (or just set the browser to fullscreen? i use moode btw) i think the volumio app is probably working already in fullscreen mode, and i actually thought about switching to volumio
tho many say moode sound better, and i also confirmed this like 2-3 years ago, but i did some software tweaks (like underclocking) to make moode sound even better and hope the same tweaks (and maybe some additional ones) to volumio bring it on par to moode, i will test this before making the final switch)
roon is kinda too expensive for my taste to be honest, tho i dont like subscriptions models for players in general, i already have to much subscriptions 😀 (netflix, sky, disney, qobuz....) unfortunaly the volumio lifetime thing was a one time only offer 🙁 one the other side i kinda get it, volumio wouldnt be what it is without subs, compared to the "minimal" moode player it has a whole ecosystem around it (roon too)
i like the "android" as keyboard idea since it would be possible to add a nice rotary encoder as volume control (like those usb volume knobs, but i didnt find one that really fits the bill), maybe this (plus some hardware buttons as multimedia control) in conjuction with a tablet would be the "ultimate" (easy) solution
Do you guys have a recommendation for a nice "minimal" tablet? (i dont like the bloated amazon tablets for example) probably some kind of cheapo (rooted?) android tablet is the way to go to make it really "minimal"
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Check out piCorePlayer. With LMS as the server, any pCP running on a pi zero can control any other. Lots of built-in support for various DACs and spd/if boards. Material Skin responsive UI for your PC/phone/tablet. Vastly superior to Volumio in every respect, IME.
Agreed. From Rune, through Moode, Volumio and back to Rune again before ending up staying with, and preferring piCorePlayer. LMS on an RPi4, supporting 5 or 6 RPi players, some with touch screen, some with remote control, but all controllable from a phone, tablet or PC running Material.
i did test LMS once but after looking at the interface/client i kinda stopped bothering instantly, maybe i give it another go but isnt the LMS ecosystem kinda "outdated"? or does it still get improved? (i think logitech dropped it completely but im unsure if its still like community-maintained?)
but yea i think picoreplayer relys completely on LMS, and the control future actually sounds great but i kinda dont wanna get into something now where the support was dropped like a few years ago but i know LMS has still a community around it (tho im still unsure about the support/maintained stuff)
i think moode can act as LMS endpoint too
Edit: and LMS actually relys on streaming over network to the endpoint, which i kinda wanna avoid
MPD supports since some time input-cache, which loads files from a nas for example as fast as possible into ram instead of actually streaming it
but yea i think picoreplayer relys completely on LMS, and the control future actually sounds great but i kinda dont wanna get into something now where the support was dropped like a few years ago but i know LMS has still a community around it (tho im still unsure about the support/maintained stuff)
i think moode can act as LMS endpoint too
Edit: and LMS actually relys on streaming over network to the endpoint, which i kinda wanna avoid
MPD supports since some time input-cache, which loads files from a nas for example as fast as possible into ram instead of actually streaming it
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I would venture that the support available is amongst the best. LogiTech still fund someone full time to update LMS, which is now up to version 8.2 stable, and 8.3 development, with nightly updates issued. piCorePlayer itself has regular releases, the current being 8.1.
Material Skin runs on nearly any browser (on windows, linux, MacOS, android) and there is an Android app. There is a healthy range of Plugins covering a variety of activities, supporting Spotify, Tidal etc.
The whole LMS ecosystem is up to date, and is actively developed and maintained by it's community. Check out the forums here:
LMS Goodness Here...
Material Skin runs on nearly any browser (on windows, linux, MacOS, android) and there is an Android app. There is a healthy range of Plugins covering a variety of activities, supporting Spotify, Tidal etc.
The whole LMS ecosystem is up to date, and is actively developed and maintained by it's community. Check out the forums here:
LMS Goodness Here...
Oh, alright then i was wrong 🙂 maybe i should take a deeper look then what its capable of, thank you
You can use a second Raspberry Pi as a controller unit over WiFi or Ethernet with Volumio using either websockets or REST API.
Furthermore, Volumio plug-ins allow assigning Raspberry Pi pins to momentary buttons and/or rotary controller … as well as to a touch display … and this is where physical buttons and knobs add value in the kinesthetic interface beyond using a touchscreen tablet or smartphone.
The only issue is that Volumio 3 just came out and not all of the plug-ins are ported over yet.
An ESP32 or ESP8266 can also handle the controls with websockets or REST API over WiFi as a remote unit.
Chris
Furthermore, Volumio plug-ins allow assigning Raspberry Pi pins to momentary buttons and/or rotary controller … as well as to a touch display … and this is where physical buttons and knobs add value in the kinesthetic interface beyond using a touchscreen tablet or smartphone.
The only issue is that Volumio 3 just came out and not all of the plug-ins are ported over yet.
An ESP32 or ESP8266 can also handle the controls with websockets or REST API over WiFi as a remote unit.
Chris
oh! thanks for that, actually the rest api would make it really easy to make a controlpoint like i planned todo with a "hid keyboard + serial input" but way easier, actually it would be totally possible to browse the filesystem too that way, tho it would need a whole interface and it would be volumio only
but
sounds like even a better/easier idea, if one volumio instance with a zero2 pi can actually control a endpoint that way
seems that volumio has really great ways to offer (and i planned to give it a second chance anyway), tho i still kinda like the universal "tablet+ arduino as hid keyboard", specially since a tablet seems more "handy" than a "diy controlstation"
i guess at this point i have to consider the many options i have....
thanks for the input so far guys 🙂
Volumio requires a pricey subscription to stream Qobuz, Tidal, and to use their new UI (the old one is crap, IME) All of these are still free with piCorePlayer / LMS, and the Material Skin is as modern a responsive UI as it gets.
Squeezelite for ESP32 has been available for some time, as have off-the-shelf ESP32 servers and clients.
Squeezelite for ESP32 has been available for some time, as have off-the-shelf ESP32 servers and clients.
piCorePlayer seems worth trying …. I’ve just been immersed in the Volumio world a while and have learned the ropes there, so to speak.
Regardless of platform, I have found, for me at least, it makes for a more enjoyable experience to have the option of using a touchscreen to browse songs, artists, etc. and also to have physical buttons and knobs (with a remote as well, perhaps) readily at at hand to instantly hit play, pause, next song, etc. without having to grab a phone or tablet and log in.
Chris
Regardless of platform, I have found, for me at least, it makes for a more enjoyable experience to have the option of using a touchscreen to browse songs, artists, etc. and also to have physical buttons and knobs (with a remote as well, perhaps) readily at at hand to instantly hit play, pause, next song, etc. without having to grab a phone or tablet and log in.
Chris
Volumio works great from my everyday phone, doesn’t make sense to have a special device that doesn’t have the ease of use.
Volumio works best from an Asus Tinker Board S, is what the pre-made devices that are for sale use.
Volumio works best from an Asus Tinker Board S, is what the pre-made devices that are for sale use.
i wonder if LMS has "control" apps too (like MPD and volumio,roon) where the app actually controls the lms server instead of being the server itself
i really think a tablet is the most handy/easy/universal solution here and im with you @JCMcNeil here, add a custom phyisical volume knob with additional buttons and you are (really) set (specially for a pc/desk setups), there will be probably a custom arduino hid device project from me soon unless i change my mind
actually one benefit of a tablet would be too that you can use bubbleupnp for example (for qobuz/tidal on moode) or your favourite mpd control app (compared to a rpi display/hdmi solution)
i really think a tablet is the most handy/easy/universal solution here and im with you @JCMcNeil here, add a custom phyisical volume knob with additional buttons and you are (really) set (specially for a pc/desk setups), there will be probably a custom arduino hid device project from me soon unless i change my mind
actually one benefit of a tablet would be too that you can use bubbleupnp for example (for qobuz/tidal on moode) or your favourite mpd control app (compared to a rpi display/hdmi solution)
i guess the volumio app is somewhat optimized for small screens but i kinda just use smartphones "if i have too", its just always a hassle compared to pc (and need 3-5 times as long to do the same), atleast i hope that a (dedicated) tablet would help with that, and im just 27 years old (and dont really have fat fingers) 😀 tho i never understood the smartphone hype.... i guess im just a pc nerd
Yes, several of them. There’s really nothing Volumio does that LMS doesn’t do better.
Just to be clear... roon and Rune are vastly different digital music paradigms although doing streaming at their core. 🙂 Roon is a premium solution - albeit at a premium price. I've been using roon for about 2.5yrs. It is absolutely, one the best pieces of software I use on a daily basis. I think I've only had to reboot the server 4 times due to power outages. I played with all the others streamers/MPDs several years ago, before I settled on roon. It's solid and just works! Here's one of my streamer projects. https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/raspberry-pi-streamer-controller.382813/
I’m sure a tablet would be about the same, just not in your pocket at all times is all.
I was the same way regarding smart phones. My wife suggested I get one some ten years ago, I told her I’d never use it. Is all I use now except for work.