RE: Musicbox Raspberry Pi 3

Former Member — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 23:20:36 GMT

I did something similar to this a few weeks ago. I found it less restrictive to forego the PiMusicBox image and just use Jessie/Jessie Lite with Mopidy and MusicBox. PiMusicBox is a bit out of date. I wanted to use a more recent distro and wasn't afraid to do Mopidy, MusicBox and SnapCast directly on the iron. PiMusicBox has routines that will undo your changes, which is probably good in a lot of cases, but left me looking for a work-around. PiMusicBox isn't based on Jessie, doesn't use the latest Mopidy and can't really use the latest SnapCast. MusicBox is the interface without the underlying baked image.

I implemented my first version using PiMusicBox. It worked as a single-source music player and I was happy with it, but I viewed it as a proof of concept. I really love MusicBox as the UI. I'm still looking for a good "random play" in its interface, but it does a good job with local files ("present my library as I've got it laid out on disk, thank you") and I'm only using it for Tune-in so far.

I put (full) Jessie on my server (a Pi2B) and used Jessie Lite on the clients (original Pi B's). The clients (originally 2, now 4) have HifiBerry DACs on them. This weekend the system expanded such that the server is also a client. It got a DAC+. The DAC+ is much less a pain because the original DAC requires some pretty tight soldering on the Pi B's board.

So, the server is running full Jessie, hosts my NAS, which stores the library and much of my other data, is the SnapCast server and is now a SnapCast client as well. It goes into the "big stereo" in my living room. The big issue with the server is that being both a client and a server, the server daemon has to be initialized before the client can connect. I haven't got a full solution for that yet. The best solution lies in /etc/init.d/snapclient - the start up script. I'm not a Linux guru so I haven't dared edit it yet. My makeshift solution (which is not reliable) is to rename the symbolic links /etc/rc2.d/S02snapclient to /etc/rc2.d/S02zzzsnapclient and /etc/rc2.d/S02snapserver to /etc/rc2.d/S02~~~snapserver. The daemons are supposed to be launched alphabetically, so I'm trying to ensure that the server starts first. I think that most of us are using our snapservers as snapclients as well - the cost of Pi's adds up and why shouldn't the server also play back? The snapclient's startup script should check to see if snapserver is installed and if it is, verify that it is initialized before launching snapclient. I'm not good enough at shell scripts to implement that yet.

The SnapServer has to also be a SnapClient if you want it to play in sync (or I think play back at all). The original Pi B's are scattered over my house. With any device (more or less) with a browser I can control the stream. All of the units play back the audio more or less in sync (SnapCast claims typically less than a millisecond of latency, which is the amount of time that it takes sound to move a foot).

I am planning on adding a Pi3 to take the place of the current server/client. I want to mirror the drives on the NAS and add LUKS encryption so I'm comfortable putting sensitive data on the NAS and only the NAS. It will (of course) also be a client (playback node).

There are two main drawbacks with my current system:

1) Google has a Chrome device (Chrome Audio?) that does this for about a third of the price of my nodes ($35). The HifiBerry's may be of higher quality playback. I can upgrade my system more easily than Chrome, but realistically, most of my nodes are old. Who knows how much longer I'll be able to keep them in service? I already had them. My current five node system cost about $140, or $28/node because I owned most of the required equipment already.

2) Solutions such as Sanos and Chrome Audio have the concept of "zones", such that different parts of the network can tune in to different streams. SnapCast does not have this AFAIK. Another solution that I know of is by LogiTech, but it is more proprietary. Pulse Audio also exists and may take the place of SnapCast. I didn't pursue Pulse Audio. I think SnapCast is "lighter weight". Sanos is expensive and locks you into amps and speakers. Chrome doesn't. If I were starting from scratch, Chrome would be looking very attractive. I'm enjoying the project though.

There is an Android App for SnapCast that can control the volume of various nodes, but I just reach for the volume knob on the amps that they are hooked up to.

I had been looking for a way to implement this for a couple of years. I'm happy with the system so far. It's still evolving. I'd need the new Pi3 server plus three other nodes to cover the whole house. Right now I'm planning on the new Pi3, having amp/speaker setups and having a "floating" Pi B for the lesser used rooms rather than shelling out the cost of the next three nodes. I'd rather ease into them.

Congrats! If you'd like to compare notes going forward, please get in touch.