mpdPup - Simplified MPD Music Server/Jukebox - v0.9.3

For talk and support relating specifically to Puppy derivatives
Message
Author
tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#481 Post by tempestuous »

kocozze, I have some solutions for you, but first I must say that you have framed your question somewhat strangely;
you asked about "the" equalizer option, as if it's a "given" that such a thing exists (it doesn't)
and you implied some sort of association with Foobar (there is none).

At the outset it should be understood that MPD is a back end application, and any audio effects are probably better implemented by the client application ... or to be really accurate; by the media renderer application.

We should also be mindful that idolse is not the developer of MPD, but he has answered some very specialised questions about the inner workings of MPD, for which I'm grateful.
The developer of MPD is Max Kellermann, and when I did a web search for information on this subject, I found some references which indicate that Max is somewhat disinterested in equalization as a feature!
As an audiophile, so am I.

These issues aside, equalization in Linux is generally enabled within the audio driver processing chain (ALSA in most cases) via plugins.
Traditionally this would be with LADSPA, or its updated equivalent, LV2.
http://lv2plug.in

For LADSPA, Steve Harris' collection of plugins includes the "mbeq" multi band EQ plugin
http://plugin.org.UK/ladspa-swh/docs/ladspa-swh.html

Or for LV2, the best plugin I could find is EQ10Q
http://eq10q.sourceforge.net

But I also came across an elegant solution using the official ALSA equalization plugin, explained in the "EXTRA SOUND OPTIONS" section here -
http://crunchbanglinux.org/wiki/howto/mpd
This has the neat advantage of having a GUI ready-to-use in Puppy in the form of alsamixer.
Unfortunately, however, I think Puppy's version of ALSA would need to be recompiled with this support enabled.

Bottom line: your easiest option would be to install the LV2 library package, then install the EQ10Q plugin.

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#482 Post by tempestuous »

ldolse wrote:Sox support built into the wizards, alsa equalizer handling updated
OK, I just saw that one of idolse's updates includes the ALSA equalization plugin (5th post in this thread). That's impressive.
So according to the instructions in the crunchbanglinux link I mentioned, you first need to activate the plugin by;
- modifying Puppy's ALSA configuration file
- modifying the MPD configuration file
- then adjust EQ settings with alsamixer, after launching it as such -

Code: Select all

alsamixer -D equal

Soli
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat 05 Oct 2013, 22:41

#483 Post by Soli »

Hi Idolse.

I am usually using MPD on Debian minimal. In the beginning I used a lot of time to toy around with all the usual tweaks, and also some of the more extreme ones. Writing scripts, tweaking the OS to my liking, it took quite a while to get the basics right. Nowadays, I usually spend time listening to music, but now and then I might try a new setting. I always had a separate a dirty linux install to do the experiments and compile, and to keep the clean install as light weight as possible.

Since Linux is mostly a b**** for normal people who just want to experience good sound, part of the goal was to see if it was possible to make a Universal Live USB that my friends could just pop in their computers and it would work right away *without* any setup at all. The only limitation is that the network music share is predefined. So kinda like MPDpup, just a tad simpler. Believe it or not, even MPDPup is too difficult for some people to grasp. In the meantime, they use their Macs and Windowses with their Jrivers, Pure Music, Audirvana and Amarras, hallujahing to tiny sound differences. But not realising the *real* sound improvement won't come before they turn to a dedicated Linux install of some sorts. I guess the point of making MPDPup was the same, to advocate the use/sound of MPD/Linux and in turn make it easy to set up.

Recently, I said to myself: "I'm reaaaaaally satisfied with the sound now". So as an insanity check I decided to try out MPDPup. For the past days I've tried v093, and I just gotta say: What a excellent piece of software. The installation took a few minutes and then it just works. This is really great.

Now the bad news: Unfortunately I think the sound quality right out of the box is nowhere near what really is possible. The bass is muddy and compressed, the highs are neither finegrained or extended as it should, the midrange is veiled and not transparent. Do not take this audio-language the wrong way, it does sound pretty good right out the box. But I'm sure MPDPup has potential for much more, may I suggest to take a look at it's sound quality for the next release? Everything else seems to work great, so no need to update what isn't broken. Normal people don't want to muck around in "DOS-mode", so to have really great sound quality right out of the box would be a tremendous feature.

ps. MPDPup is also approxx 3 times slower when refreshing the local cache to my mPod/mPad than my own install. Voyage MPD also has this problem. I think it is a kernel thing.

ps2. Shairport is now rewritten in C so no more Perl dependencies, so should be easy to include in next MPDPup release. But there is this issue: https://github.com/abrasive/shairport/issues/244

kocozze
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed 07 Nov 2012, 19:49

Alix 2d3

#484 Post by kocozze »

Many thanks for replies on the equalization environment, i'll try soon your suggestion.
Now i have a alix 2d3 in wich i wish to install mpdpup. I have no idea to how do this (i'm very newbie in linux). There's a step by step description? I have a 8 gb cf card, wich other hardware and cable i need to works fine with my new board (there's no vga output)? Sorry but i have very need of your help and my english (you see) is bad!

PET-240
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue 22 May 2012, 17:38

#485 Post by PET-240 »

Hey Kocozze,

I run it on an Alix 2d2.
Easiest I can think of is look at the 0.92a thread, will run this from memory.
Download unetbootin, load the CF card so you can see it in your normal file setup. You may need a usb card reader, I do on my HP laptop. Save the file in the cf card as per instructions.
Place the cf card in the board and start it. Allow minimum full minute before trying to login. Will need to have it on ethernet so you can login via the next step. Sometimes it takes longer than a minute to fire up, I'm still working on getting the LED's to run proper.
Download Putty, from memory type tunes.local in the address bar. I think it will ask for login/password, root/puppy.
From there the wizard shows up. When you do a restart the first time allow 20mins for the library etc to come up. It doesnt take this long usually, but be prepared for a wait.
Let me know how you go.
Wlowes in the other thread has some mods too.

kocozze
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed 07 Nov 2012, 19:49

#486 Post by kocozze »

Thanks.
When i started Putty, i write the ip of my alix (it is connected to router with ethernet cable). Putty ask me login as: (i write "root") and after he call me the password. When I write "puppy". He respon "Access denied"!!! If I write the password of my router is the same! :roll:

The same story if i write in Host name "tunes.local".
No firewall activated. mmmm

Soli
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat 05 Oct 2013, 22:41

#487 Post by Soli »

The password is not "puppy", it is "woofwoof".

kocozze
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed 07 Nov 2012, 19:49

#488 Post by kocozze »

Yes. I found just now. I can enter in wizard...
Many many many thanks :P

kocozze
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed 07 Nov 2012, 19:49

#489 Post by kocozze »

:cry: oh! when the wizard ask me for music source i select "local" (my music is in external usb hard drive) but the wizard open the "network share setup"....

lazzarone
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri 09 Aug 2013, 17:40

#490 Post by lazzarone »

hello,
does anyone know how I can install this deb?

http://www2.signalyst.com/bins/naa/debi ... 9_i386.deb

PET-240
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue 22 May 2012, 17:38

#491 Post by PET-240 »

Did mmention it was from memory, I wohld have had to go hunting too. Am pretty sure first post by Idolse has a guide to go through the wizard. There is something about local hdd in this thread too. Best go reading.
Sorry for for the bum steer reagrds password.

Cheers,

Drew.

kocozze
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed 07 Nov 2012, 19:49

#492 Post by kocozze »

...i read all 33 pages but i have not found answer. The problem should be the alix? On another computer everything was fine, even if booting from pendrive, not cf card.
Fdisk -l list to me the external usb drive (1 terabyte), but when i try to mount with...mount dev/sdb1/mnt... I read No such file or directory...

kocozze
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed 07 Nov 2012, 19:49

#493 Post by kocozze »

sorry, now i read "can't find /dev/sdb in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab"...?

PET-240
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue 22 May 2012, 17:38

#494 Post by PET-240 »

This is from the front page, have you tried it in the wizard? I am looking to keep everything off the usb bus but the dac, I am no whiz with this stuff, just learning as I go!

Storage Configuration
The first dialog will ask you whether your audio is stored locally or via a network share.
Network Share
The CIFS configuration dialogs will ask you for various details regarding your network share, be prepared with IP address, user/pass, share name, and music directory.
If the root of the share is above your Music library then enter the sub-folder 'Music Root Directory'. Be sure to get the case correct. If the Music library is the root of the share then leave that box blank.
You'll then get a chance to confirm and test these settings. Go through those options, and if the test fails you can go back and change the settings.
Local Storage
Note local storage support is new and the audio directory currently limited to a separate drive or partition from the boot device.
The boot drive and music storage drive should also be on separate system buses (e.g. SATA for boot and USB for storage)
The local storage wizard will have you select a drive and subdirectory where your audio data is located.

kocozze
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed 07 Nov 2012, 19:49

#495 Post by kocozze »

the wizard in CLIENT mode (alix don't have a video card) ask me if my music is stored in network share or in local storage, but if i selected "local storage" appears the page configuration of network share!
I think maybe the alix do not "see" the usb hard disk, but with fdisk -l it appears as device sdb1. If i try to mount it, it appears the message i write in the recent posts...

PET-240
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue 22 May 2012, 17:38

#496 Post by PET-240 »

Yup, I use alix too. Have you anything else plugged in to the usb bus at the same time?
Just spitballing....perhaps a cmd for connected devices without it plugged in and one after it is plugged in? Not sure what it would be, one would think that it would be an sda1 being the only hdd.
Have you looked through the previous thread from 0.9.2a thread?

kocozze
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed 07 Nov 2012, 19:49

#497 Post by kocozze »

I have another device usb connected, the hiface one, but she is recognized without any problem. Maybe the problem is that i partitioned the cf card? It was 8 gb, i create one partition for mpdpup (4 gb) and one partition empty.

PET-240
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue 22 May 2012, 17:38

#498 Post by PET-240 »

Been a while since I went through the wizard, does the local storage come up before or after the output? Perhaps unplug both and plug in whichever comes up first? Then leave it and plug the second in?
I dont know if the partition is an issue, I use an 8gb card straight up.

kocozze
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed 07 Nov 2012, 19:49

#499 Post by kocozze »

I try all attempts, but...nothing :cry:
I think that i must give up the alix solutions... (so, it was not my!).
Thanks anyway

ToineBles
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun 13 Oct 2013, 19:23

mpdpup

#500 Post by ToineBles »

Hi Kocozze, I work also with an Alix board for quitte some time with great succes, i iuse a nasdrive. Do you have a nas drive? I presume not because you are trying usb storage connecting the mpd pup. One of these days i will try to connect an external drive on my alix board and report you if i'm succesful or not. Maybe this will help!! :wink:
Greeting Toine

mpdpup 0.93 on usb, mx on qnap nas, alix 3d3, m2tech young dac, mf v-link, edgar tube amp, magnepan 1.6, stax srs-4170

Post Reply