I need a way to enable others in my household to access and play music from my MacPro (not a laptop).
Background follows...
Technology
Mine
My wife's
Stereo system
MacPro has a hardwired digital connection to my stereo system's Hypex plate amps with DSP.
As it stands the system has no other available inputs (wireless or bluetooth) into the stereo system.
So, I can not send music directly from any other device to the stereo system. The stereo has no other inputs remote or otherwise.
I use Apple's Music app. Works perfectly.
Goal
Enable my wife's or other's iPad Pro to remotely access my Mac Pro's Music app. So she can play music on the attached stereo system.
Note: She has a different AppleID than I do, but I would think a way must exist to permission her to control things.
I use Apple's Remote.app on my iPad to control the stereo when I sit in my listening spot (away from my desktop), but I can't figure out how to make this work from my wife's iPad.
Thoughts and guidance appreciated.
Background follows...
Technology
Mine
MacPro macOS
11.0.1 Big Sur
11.0.1 Big Sur
My wife's
iPad Pro
iPadOS 14.2
iPadOS 14.2
Stereo system
MacPro has a hardwired digital connection to my stereo system's Hypex plate amps with DSP.
As it stands the system has no other available inputs (wireless or bluetooth) into the stereo system.
So, I can not send music directly from any other device to the stereo system. The stereo has no other inputs remote or otherwise.
I use Apple's Music app. Works perfectly.
Goal
Enable my wife's or other's iPad Pro to remotely access my Mac Pro's Music app. So she can play music on the attached stereo system.
Note: She has a different AppleID than I do, but I would think a way must exist to permission her to control things.
I use Apple's Remote.app on my iPad to control the stereo when I sit in my listening spot (away from my desktop), but I can't figure out how to make this work from my wife's iPad.
Thoughts and guidance appreciated.
Check out Logitech media server. Multiple servers, Players, Multiroom capable.
I'm using on an RPI4 but there is also a MacOS version.
I'm using on an RPI4 but there is also a MacOS version.
Roon?
Does all what you want it to do without any setup.
Cost a bit more than squeezeserver though but it's plug and play, well almost. Any kid or grandma can set it up in minutes.
Does all what you want it to do without any setup.
Cost a bit more than squeezeserver though but it's plug and play, well almost. Any kid or grandma can set it up in minutes.
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I am also looking for a solution to this very same problem. I run all my home audio through a "server" computer. On this computer there are audio sources like files and streaming audio. From there I stream the audio to various active loudspeaker systems around my home. I would like to be able to control the source (volume, track selection, etc.) from e.g. a tablet or something that is easy to carry around.
I am not wanting to install MPD, which is really only useful for playing audio files, nor do I want to install a customized OS/player like Volumio or whatever. I use a generic Ubuntu install on my machines, and I want to stick with that.
About the only solution I found was desktop sharing and remote control. This would allow me to do everything from another computer, just as if I was sitting at the server terminal. But I haven't convinced myself that it will be lightweight enough to deploy over WiFi, so I haven't really tried it out. It helps if you have a low resolution display since less info needs to be shared over the connection.
If there is a better way to have a GUI interface to my server computer I would love to know about it.
To have some level of remote control, I currently run a text-only interface over ssh that allows me to select which system is on or off and change the playback volume. It would likely be a simple matter to use a text-based player (mplayer, cvlc, etc.) to also control playback, but there would be no GUI interface and since I get a lot of my streaming audio via my browser I would need to know all of the stream URLs in advance. Many providers seem to change up the URLs often (every few days to weeks) in order to force you to use the HTML interface to listen.
I am not wanting to install MPD, which is really only useful for playing audio files, nor do I want to install a customized OS/player like Volumio or whatever. I use a generic Ubuntu install on my machines, and I want to stick with that.
About the only solution I found was desktop sharing and remote control. This would allow me to do everything from another computer, just as if I was sitting at the server terminal. But I haven't convinced myself that it will be lightweight enough to deploy over WiFi, so I haven't really tried it out. It helps if you have a low resolution display since less info needs to be shared over the connection.
If there is a better way to have a GUI interface to my server computer I would love to know about it.
To have some level of remote control, I currently run a text-only interface over ssh that allows me to select which system is on or off and change the playback volume. It would likely be a simple matter to use a text-based player (mplayer, cvlc, etc.) to also control playback, but there would be no GUI interface and since I get a lot of my streaming audio via my browser I would need to know all of the stream URLs in advance. Many providers seem to change up the URLs often (every few days to weeks) in order to force you to use the HTML interface to listen.
JRiver and Gizmo. I normally use it on Windows, but it works on MacOS too.
Tho it would be nice if you could find a way within the Apple OS universe.
Tho it would be nice if you could find a way within the Apple OS universe.
There is one other thing that you might consider for your needs: set up your MAC as an endpoint for some kind of wireless streamnig protocol. For example, here is an example of one using an R-Pi as a bluetooth endpoint:
Streaming Bluetooth Audio from Phone to Raspberry Pi using ALSA
You could even do that, and then somehow connect the Pi to your Mac as an input that you could mix with the main audio or select as the audio input to be routed to the Hypex amps.
A similar approach sets up a computer as an UPnP endpoint/renderer:
GitHub - hzeller/gmrender-resurrect: Resource efficient UPnP/DLNA renderer, optimal for Raspberry Pi, CuBox or a general MediaServer. Fork of GMediaRenderer to add some features to make it usable.
It's intended for Linux, but you might be able to get it working somehow if you are clever.
Streaming Bluetooth Audio from Phone to Raspberry Pi using ALSA
You could even do that, and then somehow connect the Pi to your Mac as an input that you could mix with the main audio or select as the audio input to be routed to the Hypex amps.
A similar approach sets up a computer as an UPnP endpoint/renderer:
GitHub - hzeller/gmrender-resurrect: Resource efficient UPnP/DLNA renderer, optimal for Raspberry Pi, CuBox or a general MediaServer. Fork of GMediaRenderer to add some features to make it usable.
It's intended for Linux, but you might be able to get it working somehow if you are clever.
Windows 7 and 10 want you to set up a local media sharing network which I usually disable. I'm sure you can do the same on a Mac.
Use iTunes to share files between your computer and your iOS or iPadOS device - Apple Support
For security reasons, I would invest in a dedicated media server that carried no personal information like you probably have on your computer. That could be an older (cheap) refurbished computer with a good size hard drive (internal or external); doesn't have to be fast.
But my MP3 library fits in about 40G, which is part of a thumb drive in the car or a uSD card in my phone. If you don't care for MP3 then FLAC files will use a larger drive but still do-able.
I originally started to use WMA files 20+ years ago because they sounded better for the same data rate and file size, but I switched to MP3 at a higher data rate because the DVD player I had at the time did not support WMA. Today there are other codecs but, is it worth the trouble?
Use iTunes to share files between your computer and your iOS or iPadOS device - Apple Support
For security reasons, I would invest in a dedicated media server that carried no personal information like you probably have on your computer. That could be an older (cheap) refurbished computer with a good size hard drive (internal or external); doesn't have to be fast.
But my MP3 library fits in about 40G, which is part of a thumb drive in the car or a uSD card in my phone. If you don't care for MP3 then FLAC files will use a larger drive but still do-able.
I originally started to use WMA files 20+ years ago because they sounded better for the same data rate and file size, but I switched to MP3 at a higher data rate because the DVD player I had at the time did not support WMA. Today there are other codecs but, is it worth the trouble?
Seems a waste to be using a MacPro as a music server. Could also be quite noisy (an issue i had before i switched to macMini).
I am not sure if there is Screen Sharing on an iPad, i use it with my MacBook Pro to directly control the OS remotely.
A preamp controls the input, you have bypassed that, essential directly plugging the Mac into the amplifiers?
No issue with Screen Share as long as she has log-in credentials she can access the MacPro.
dave
I am not sure if there is Screen Sharing on an iPad, i use it with my MacBook Pro to directly control the OS remotely.
A preamp controls the input, you have bypassed that, essential directly plugging the Mac into the amplifiers?
No issue with Screen Share as long as she has log-in credentials she can access the MacPro.
dave
I don't know how good remote desktop works under linux but I am using windows remote desktop on my macbook for years. I use this to run windows programs via my mac that run on a windows desktop computer. I have found little to no difference in usabilty (speed, graphics lag, resolution) between sitting in front of the desktop or using it by remote over wifi. Just give it a try.
@Sjef: While I was away I installed NoMachine on my Linux audio server and again on an old Android tablet. It's surprisingly useful, apart from the large difference in screen sizes. But I can zoom and pan from the tablet (a 10" model) and the lag is minimal. This is amazing. It's a great solution and something that I should have done a long time ago.
In the past I have used a program called Jump desktop to remote control a mac from an IPad, but that was using OSX on the mac.
Apologies for not responding in a while.
I have tried most of the kinds of ideas suggested.
Some more specific background.
MacPro circa (2016)
Apple Music app
Simplify, simplify, simplify...
Philosophically, I have pursued an audio strategy to simplify everything in the signal (and control) path.
Solution so far...
Limitations
Possible solutions
Thoughts appreciated.
I have tried most of the kinds of ideas suggested.
Some more specific background.
MacPro circa (2016)
I use a MacPro circa 2016 (see photo) as my principal desktop and keep all music files (lossless) on it. The MacPro runs quiet and does everything I need for home and remote work and does so effortlessly.
I may eventually refresh with the newest MacPro iteration, but have no compelling need to do so at this point.
I also reside both at home and professionally in an Apple environment. I ran a rack of Apple XServes configured or parallel processing when my teamed and I assessed that Apple then employed the most advanced Linux implementation for our purposes. We standardized our entire business on Apple hardware and software. I've never had a reason to change.
I may eventually refresh with the newest MacPro iteration, but have no compelling need to do so at this point.
I also reside both at home and professionally in an Apple environment. I ran a rack of Apple XServes configured or parallel processing when my teamed and I assessed that Apple then employed the most advanced Linux implementation for our purposes. We standardized our entire business on Apple hardware and software. I've never had a reason to change.
Apple Music app
Apple's Music app works fine for me.
I appreciate that the Rune environment can give one additional meta information about specific tracks, artists, composers, and the like and I've recently helped a close friend set up his system with a Rune central to it.
A Rune might provide some convenience and additional functionality (although my friend, not a DIYer, but an audiophile as defined by -- he spent more on his stereo system than he did on his car (and he has a nice car ;-) ) rarely avails himself of any Rune functionality beyond what I use in Apple Music.
I appreciate that the Rune environment can give one additional meta information about specific tracks, artists, composers, and the like and I've recently helped a close friend set up his system with a Rune central to it.
A Rune might provide some convenience and additional functionality (although my friend, not a DIYer, but an audiophile as defined by -- he spent more on his stereo system than he did on his car (and he has a nice car ;-) ) rarely avails himself of any Rune functionality beyond what I use in Apple Music.
Simplify, simplify, simplify...
Philosophically, I have pursued an audio strategy to simplify everything in the signal (and control) path.
I've reduced everything to a computer connected to (essentially) Hypex FA123 powered DMLs. No other source input. No dedicated music server. No preamp. No separate DAC (the FA123, which I now bridge so I don't even need its complexity, has a built DAC). No crossover. A single exciter on each panel. One panel for each channel.
Almost as simple has physics allows.
I've never had better sound.
People not aware of how all of this works don't really "know" where the music originates.
I get a lot of fun out their reactions.
Almost as simple has physics allows.
I've never had better sound.
People not aware of how all of this works don't really "know" where the music originates.
I get a lot of fun out their reactions.
Solution so far...
I dug through some old stuff and found an old iPad mini 3, running iOS 12.4.4.
I now leave it on the coffee table as a control device anyone can use.
It has Apple's Remote app, which gives me access to the Apple Music library on my desktop.
I now leave it on the coffee table as a control device anyone can use.
It has Apple's Remote app, which gives me access to the Apple Music library on my desktop.
Limitations
Using Apple's Remote app with the iPad mini has only a few limitations:
- I have to set "Digital Out" directly on my desktop. Not a terrible inconvenience because my desktop current sits in an alcove off of the living room, but I'd love to have the ability to do so from the iPad mini. Additionally, we may reconfigure the loft, which would put my home office space a hundred feet away, so it may become more of an issue.
- Apple's Remote app, on the currently configured iPad mini, doesn't enable me to access Apple Music streaming through my music library. Maybe I just haven't figured out how to do this. I can see and access Apple Music playlists from the iPad mini and I can stop, start, and control volume of anything playing from my music library. Not certain if a newer iPad and/or software upgrade might give me this, but if memory serves, my new iPad Pro has the same limitation. I'd love to have the ability to browse through Apple Music's streaming library from my couch. I can do this from my desktop, but it gets silly rushing back and forth to the couch.
- Nice to have, sometimes one can find rare, unusual, and wonderful performances on YouTube or Vimeo. Again, I can access and play these from my desktop, but having access from the iPad sitting in front of the speakers just introduces another magical later of serendipity, memory, and discovery.
Possible solutions
Using some kind of remote desktop service (as some have suggested). Not a great solution on the iPad mini. The small a screen makes pretty inconvenient and cumbersome to do.
Maybe an old MacBook would better enable the use of a remote desktop service (I may have one layin' about). The could give me all the functionality I want.
Maybe a wireless dongle or Apple TV device into the FA123 master amp. I'd have to use the FA123 remote to switch inputs, but could then access Apple's streaming service, Youtube, and Vimeo. A bit messy, but maybe easier than walking back and forth to my desktop.
Maybe an old MacBook would better enable the use of a remote desktop service (I may have one layin' about). The could give me all the functionality I want.
Maybe a wireless dongle or Apple TV device into the FA123 master amp. I'd have to use the FA123 remote to switch inputs, but could then access Apple's streaming service, Youtube, and Vimeo. A bit messy, but maybe easier than walking back and forth to my desktop.
Thoughts appreciated.
Attachments
How do you do that. I now have a Windows box downstairs (MacPro running XP). I need to be physically present as all i use it for is measuring drivers, but greater access might encourage me to try more.
dave
It can also play and record sounds via the remote client but I don't know if that works reliable enough for audio measurements so the measurement hardware has to be connected to the XP computer I guess.
I'm not sure I fully undestand what you are trying to accomplish. Do you want to use your wife's Ipad purely as remote or does she want to stream musuc from the ipad into the stereosystem?
Instead of an airplay dongle or apple TV you could use Airfoil app from RogueAmouba on your mac pro so the Ipad can stream directly to the mac via airplay. Local files could be accessed by a shared itunes library or by setting up the music folder on the macpro as network share and scan it with apple music on the ipad. Just some thoughts.
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Sjef,
Ideally, both. I'd like my wife (or anyone else that visits) to access the stereo system from their own devices.
I have musician and composer friends that (a least before COVID) bring new or live recordings to hear on my system.
That said, having a dedicated device (iPad, MacBook, or ?) can work. Or, my friends can just bring me files on a flash drive and can upload them to my computer.
I'll give them a try.
Yep, already doing this.
Ideally, both. I'd like my wife (or anyone else that visits) to access the stereo system from their own devices.
I have musician and composer friends that (a least before COVID) bring new or live recordings to hear on my system.
That said, having a dedicated device (iPad, MacBook, or ?) can work. Or, my friends can just bring me files on a flash drive and can upload them to my computer.
I'll give them a try.
Yep, already doing this.