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10-20-2021, 08:48 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-20-2021, 02:03 PM by HannesF.)
Hi.
moOde is the answer to my prayers as a previous Squeezebox multi-room + LMS user - thanks for the great work!. My receivers are set up nicely, now I'd like to set up a multiroom audio server.
Seeing the general lack of Raspi 4 hardware on the market, I wonder about options. What are the Raspi hardware requirements/recommendations for a server? And the possibly stupid question: does the server require a DAC?
TIA
Hannes
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Server can be any of the ARM7 4-core Pi's or maybe even a 2B. I've only tested 3B+ and 4B cos thats what I have as spares.
No DAC required. Just set the audio device to HDMI 1 for convenience and you're good to go. When the Sender is turned on it reconfigures audio output to the ALSA Dummy device because it will be reading the PCM stream from ALSA loopback and doesn't need the real audio output.
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10-21-2021, 04:39 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-21-2021, 04:42 PM by HannesF.)
Thanks, that helped, I have one server and one receiver set up now. Two more receivers won't play ball (yet):
Under Multiroom Config/Receiver, I cannot set the Receiver daemon to ON.
Question for that:
In the Audio config menu/ALSA/Multiroom, it says "NOTE: Requires Loopback to be ON."
In the "Setup Guide for moOde Multiroom Audio", it says under "Receiver configuration" A)1.: "- Set ALSA Loopback to "OFF"
What am I missing? (I tried Loopback ON and OFF, no joy).
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10-21-2021, 05:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-21-2021, 05:30 PM by Tim Curtis.)
Thats an old help text on Audio Config "NOTE: Requires Loopback to be ON." Only the Sender requires Loopback and thats indicated on Multiroom Config. I'll remove the line for 7.5.0.
If the SET button is disabled and won't respond to clicks then it's prolly because the audio device does not support Hardware volume. There's a help line under the button "The Receiver requires an audio device that supports Hardware volume."
If the audio device supports Hardware volume there will be a "Hardware" selection in the dropdown list for Mixer type on MPD Config.
What audio device are you using on the Receivers?
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10-21-2021, 06:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-21-2021, 07:05 PM by HannesF.)
Thanks.
I'm using three HiFiBerry DAC2 HD. (Bought before I saw that you now created the multiroom option and your hardware tips...).
After a few probs I had with power adaptors not delivering enough for WiFi to work (new one to me) and a few reboots, the server now sees all three receivers - even though MDB Config/Volume mixer only shows Sw/Fixed/Null.
Anyway: multiroom nows gives me GREAT joy, Thank you Tim!
I'll be looking at the details and creating my own list of radio stations, but already I'm glad to have left all the other over-complicated (and often under-stable) solutions for moOde!
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10-22-2021, 11:07 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-22-2021, 11:11 PM by Mike645.)
Hi
I have a similar issue / question, just the other way round. Sorry for hijacking...
What are the hardware requirements for receivers?
I decided to try multiroom, the idea is a receiver in my living room and a second at my office.
The following configuration works:
RPi 3B (the one with 10/100 NIC, not the +) as sender, RPi 4B 4G as receiver
Works fine and as expected, not a single hickup.
The following configuration does not work reliable:
RPI 4B 4G as sender, RPi 3B as receiver.
Stuttering and interruptions ("dropped" seconds, as if it's running out of buffer) every few minutes. Sources are mp3 over samba or webradio.
Network is not an issue, it's all running over gigabit lan. The Pi3B runs fine as a standalone unit. CPU usage is ok during multiroom playback, max at 12-15% at one core, the other cores are lower (1-7%). RAM usage is also ok. HiFi Berry DAC+ were used, I just swapped SD cards.
Is my 3B really too weak? Will upgrade to a 3B+ and the additional 200MHz clock speed help? I would gladly upgrade to a 4B, but only the 8G model is available (2G and 4G are sold out) and it's a bit overkill for this purpose. And it's more than twice the price of a 3B+ and I would need a new PSU and a new case.
Thx
Mike
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Whats the network config?
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Wrt hardware for the Sender/Receivers I've tested with Pi-4B/Eth as Sender and Pi-4B, 3A+, 3B+ and 3B as Receivers. All the Receivers use Comfast CF-912AC adapters and are on 5GHz band. I also tested the 3A+ with its integrated WiFi adapter and it worked fine. My Ethernet connection is home run to ASUS Router.
In your particular configuration which is all-Ethernet given that Receiver Pi-4B works fine but swapping in a 3B results in glitches would suggest an issue with the Ethernet implementation on the 3B. Possibly there is a compatibility issue between it and the Aruba switches. Maybe some sort of flow control issue.
Some things to try would be:
1. As you suggested, connect the 3B to the unmanaged SW.
2. Run some or all the Receivers on 5GHz WiFi. Make sure the switches can convert Multicast to either multi-unicast or broadcast so it works on wireless.
3. Run the some ping tests between Sender and 3B receiver to see if there are any obvious issues in the ping stats.
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Hardware incompatibility, that's something I did not consider... Ping test is fine.
With a dumb switch its better, but not perfect. Now testing different switches (Aruba CX vs AOS Switch) and playing with the multicast settings on the switch.
Thanks
