GentooPlayer

[zackthedog]

I have a new Mercury streamer and added an m.2 drive to the available slot for music storage.  I wanted to format the drive using the Format utility but the drive doesn't show up on the list.  Am I doing something wrong?

[zackthedog]

1 hour ago, antonellocaroli said:

Have you tried with a *ST* kernel? what does fdisk -l say?

 

That did it.  Formatted as ext4.  Now I need to create a directory/folder?  How do I point MPD to it?  

[zackthedog]

19 minutes ago, antonellocaroli said:

1) you must mount it (in the wi System base  config > mount local disk)
2) you can transfer files to it using external apps see
3) you have to do a database update with the mpd client (to make it find files)

I will have to add support for *MIN* kernels...

 

Okay, so mount drive or partition?

 

nvme0n1

nvme0n1p1

 

Name it "mymusic" or something similar?  

 

Create Samba share to transfer files?  That's easiest for me.

 

I use Minimserver, so I could tell Minimwatch where to find the music, yes?  What would the address be?  Like "mnt/mymusic"?

 

Thank you!

[zackthedog]

Oh, okay.  It's now /media/MPD, so should be good.  Thank you!

[zackthedog]

Works like a charm, thanks again.

[zackthedog]

I've now got the Mercury server figured out, sounds fantastic playing local files on NVME drive and streaming Qobuz.  I'm using Minimserver and Lumin or Kazoo.  I have a question about streaming music, though.  If I want to minimize the impact of my network, is there a way to preload Qobuz files into ram, or increase the Minimserver buffer size to pre-load full tracks?  Just curious, thanks!

[zackthedog]

1 hour ago, antonellocaroli said:

I think you are also using Bubble....but the answer is no.

For me, personally, the most effective way to listen from streaming services, Qobuz/Tidal, remains gmediarender + mconnect.
Or HQplayerE + mconnect  
 

For Qobuz in ram, what you can try is to increase the squeezelite/R2 buffers and just use LMS + Squeezelite/R2

Ex.



buffers are kilobytes, in this case they are 384MB, but you have to consider them double one for each buffer so it will occupy 768MB of ram...

 

Okay, thanks for the info. 

[zackthedog]

Speaking of Diretta, the activation link embedded in GP no longer works.  Are they out of business?

[zackthedog]

6 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

Have you tried reinstalling diretta?

 

Didn't know I could. :-)  I will try that.

[zackthedog]

6 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

Have you tried reinstalling diretta?

 

Okay, how do I do that?

[zackthedog]

7 minutes ago, antonellocaroli said:

option 1 of the Diretta Target Menu menu

 

I tried that, but the generated activation link is dead.

[zackthedog]

On 9/11/2022 at 9:38 AM, antonellocaroli said:

it should work now...

 

Thank you!

[zackthedog]

34 minutes ago, Ghoostknight said:

Ah got it, thanks :)

 

Did someone go the route of trying out a few OS`s and can compare GentooPlayer? (specially soundquality-wise)

 

I've tried just about every populasr audio OS on my Pi2AES--Volumio, Moode, Ropiee, DietPi, etc.--and Gentooplayer is hands-down the best-sounding and most versatile in my opinion.

[zackthedog]

Is there a way to access alsa mixer in the latest version of GP?

[zackthedog]

36 minutes ago, Ghoostknight said:

i was considering switching from Moode to DietPi, tho it kinda scars me to install stuff myself (i just tried Volumio and Moode so far)

 

How you use GentooPlayer? i like the all in one interface of moode but honestly after looking at some of the MPD Clients i like them way more (for example RompR)

and in the end Moode seems to just integrate its own playerview + settings where GentooPlayer has its own Settings Webinterface + aditional ones like MPD, did i got this right?

 

One thing that is must-have for me is CamillaDSP for roomcorrection and GentooPlayer has it also, so big plus, is the switching from sources seemlessly ? (for example between MPD and Airplay) or do i have to switch around some settings?

 

 

Of the free OS's, I think RopieeeX is the best-sounding and easiest, but it's not as good a GP, which has a rixh analogue sound.  It takes some study to get familiar with it.  There are many, many options, but for your purposes you can simply activate it, run GP-Update under the Software Update tab in the sidebar, then Select DAC, then Enable/Disable Software to enable MPD, then Player/Audio setting to select the output device in MPD Bitperfect.  In GP you can enable several players, though Squeezelite will coopt the output device by default so I keep that disabled.

[zackthedog]

39 minutes ago, Ghoostknight said:

the price of GentooPlayer seems well worth it if its true that its the best sounding, specially compared to other audiophile OS`s like AudioLinux/Euphony which cost more 

i was also considering Roon but i read mixed results regarding sound quality, i really like the interface/integration but the recuring fee is also a big minus for me

 

I will probably hit up the dev for a trial key somewhat soon :)

 

tho one thing im unsure about is the licensing of GentooPlayer, it seems that if you change hardware your license goes invalid, will this be the case if i change for example a HAT on the RPI4? or should it be alright as long i stay with the CM4?

 

Also one question i have, is 2GB Ram enough to load the OS into RAM and use MPD`s Input Cache? or should i go for 4/8 GB?

 

Changing the hat or output device will not disable the license.  Only changing the base computer will do that.  I'm not sure if changing the CPU matters.  I would go for minimum 4GB memory if possible, but 2GB will work.  I believe the Ramplay option will not have enough space to load with only 2GB.

[zackthedog]

1 hour ago, Dandou said:

I tried with v8, and the single GB of RAM of a RBi3 loaded in Ramsystem the full OS + Squeezelite, Squeezelite-R2, Mpd, NAA, Upmpdcli, RoonBridge, Airplay (if I'm not mistaken). 

 

With 2GB of RAM, you can load much more. 

 

Oh, that's good to know, thank you for correcting me!

[zackthedog]

I am using kernel 6.1.1 on an RPi4 with the Pi2AES board.  Playback software is Audirvana.  I have no issues with MPD playback but APRenderer is a bit buggy, dropping out every once in a while.  Can anyone suggest settings in APRenderer that are the most stable?  Thanks!

[zackthedog]

On 5/22/2023 at 6:45 AM, bodiebill said:

 

Fyi, these are my settings, which work for upsampling to DSD256:
 

 

Working so far!  Thank you!

[zackthedog]

I've never cared for the sound of LMS myself, too lush and everything starts to sound the same.  I far prefer MPD or APRenderer, a more revealing sound to me.  You should try Minimserver and BubbleUPnP with either MPD/Upmpdcli or APRenderer as the playback engine.  That's a really intense and accurate sound, IMO.  Control it with Lumin app or Linn Kazoo.

 

You install Minimserver and APRenderer.  Then enable BubbleUpnP, Minimserver and APRenderer.  Go to the BubbleUPnP page (the Rpi 4's IP address plus ":58050")and designate APRenderer as an OpenHome player.  Minimserver will find your library if its in the Gentooplayer media mount, or you can point it to another source.  In the Lumin app you select the Lumin player (APRenderer) and the music library (Minimserver).

 

It may take some fiddling to set up but I think it's offers much better sound quality than LMS.

[zackthedog]

2 hours ago, WuBai said:

I'm definitely going to try the Minimserver setup and will report back on how it compares in my system.  I've spent a lot of time tuning for LMS, so any changes should be pretty obvious moving to another package and it might be good feedback for others on their journey.

 

I also want to give the whole HQPlayer thing a whirl as well.  Trouble is, even after doing GP-Update multiplie times I keep running into this issue when I try to install:

 

>>> Verifying ebuild manifests

 

>>> Emerging (1 of 1) media-sound/hqplayerd-bin-arm64-4.34.2::antonellocaroli

>>> Downloading 'https://www.signalyst.eu/bins/hqplayerd/bullseye/hqplayerd_4.34.2-156_arm64.deb'

--2023-06-19 15:12:46-- https://www.signalyst.eu/bins/hqplayerd/bullseye/hqplayerd_4.34.2-156_arm64.deb

Resolving www.signalyst.eu... 91.150.61.42

Connecting to www.signalyst.eu|91.150.61.42|:443... connected.

HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 500 Internal Server Error

2023-06-19 15:12:47 ERROR 500: Internal Server Error.

 

!!! Couldn't download 'hqplayerd_4.34.2-156_arm64.deb'. Aborting.

* Fetch failed for 'media-sound/hqplayerd-bin-arm64-4.34.2', Log file:

* '/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/hqplayerd-bin-arm64-4.34.2/temp/build.log'

 

>>> Failed to emerge media-sound/hqplayerd-bin-arm64-4.34.2, Log file:

 

>>> '/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/hqplayerd-bin-arm64-4.34.2/temp/build.log'

 

* Messages for package media-sound/hqplayerd-bin-arm64-4.34.2:

 

* Fetch failed for 'media-sound/hqplayerd-bin-arm64-4.34.2', Log file:

* '/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/hqplayerd-bin-arm64-4.34.2/temp/build.log'

 

Also try Minimserver with MPD/Upmpdcli.  Again, a different sound.  Aprenderer is a bit warmer, but MPD is more detailed and open.

[zackthedog]

APRenderer is just the stripped-down renderer portion of APlayer.  What you see in BubbleUpnP is correct.

 

I don't use Diretta but I have an Allo USBridge with GP, I can try to set up Diretta and see.  In the meantime maybe someone else could help, or maybe try it without Diretta, straight from the host machine to your DAC.  You might be surprised. ;-)

[zackthedog]

delete

[zackthedog]

So here's what I did because it was quickest to set up.  I had to update GP card in the Allo Bridge:

 

Diretta target (Allo Bridge): Enabled MPD/Upmpdcli, selected sound card in MPD Bitperfect player (in this case Allo Digione Signature connected to DAC).

 

Diretta host (Pi2AES): Enabled Minimserver, BubbleUPnP, MPD/Upmpdcli. Designated Gentoplayer UPnP as Open Home player in BubbleUPnp.  In MPD Bitperfect selected Diretta/alsa as sound card.

 

Opened Lumin app, selected Minimserver library and Gentooplayer UPnP as player.  Played Qobuz.  Works like a charm.

 

You can do the same thing with AP2Renderer instead of MPD/Upmpdcli.

 

Sounds pretty good!  Maybe I need to really try Diretta...!

[zackthedog]

2 hours ago, WuBai said:

This might be perfect for me since I only play local files, thanks for clarifying.  Learning a lot in these past few days by asking a few questions!  I have two more questions now that Antonello showed me how to select the output card and set it to Diretta.  

 

Is there a possibility to have a setup with only Minimserver and APlayer selected and running?  If so, can this also be controlled by the Lumin App like AP2Renderer stuff can be, or is the Lumin app only for uPnp stuff, which I guess I am disabling since I only need access to local files.  

 

I think the first step will be to see if I can get APlayer and Minimserver working and showing local files, then I can see about the most convenient interface.  Thanks for all the help!

 

Unless I'm mistaken, you need UPnP for a remote app to be able to control Minimserver.  Minimserver is what sends the music to your player, it is not a player itself.  And normally you need BubbleUPnP to establish the OpenHome protocol.

If you don't use a streaming service I think you can skip the OpenHome but I could be wrong.

 

But if you just want to use APlayer to play local files, you can install it and then use a mobile device with a web browser to reach the APlayer web gui.  That would be the GP host IP address plus ":7778".  GP tells you the address when you install APlayer the first time.

 

Once in the Aplayer web gui, tap the "eject" or "go to" button to the right of the controls (line with arrow above it), go to the media folder, select your album and tap the "go to" button again and it will load the track in the player window.