Raspberry pi and stereotool

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Original pirate
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Raspberry pi and stereotool

Post by Original pirate » Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:43 am

Has anyone managed to play a stream link in vlc or audacious and successfully been able to run stereotool on a raspberry pi ? I have the pi3 and iv tried using a USB audio input/output stick with no luck, iv even tried using the patch in jackd trying to make the player talk to stereotool but again NO LUCK, then i started thinking that the pi might accept an external audio input through the usb, plugged the 3.5mm jack from the usb to my phone, tried changing the soundcard input channels in stereotool and still got nothing. Iv spent hours on YouTube and pi forums but cant find anything remotely usefull.
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OgreVorbis
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Re: Raspberry pi and stereotool

Post by OgreVorbis » Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:26 am

I have not done this, but I have used Stereo Tool on Linux before.

This may seem obvious, but I'll point out a few things:
1. You are running the Raspberry PI version of Stereo Tool and not just the generic Linux one?
2. You are using a HIFI DAC?
3. What is this "USB audio stick" ?

Anyway, here's what I think should be done. Install VLC on PI and icecast or shoutcast on PC to stream over the wifi stick. If you can listen to the audio out of the PI with VLC connected to the IP and port of the server, then you have completed the first step.
Then make sure you have jackd and Stereo Tool (version for PI). Route the connection from the VLC into Stereo Tool. Now route the output of Stereo Tool into your HIFI DAC (you must have it for 192KHz stereo). I don't think you'll have any quality sound out of the PI without a DAC. It is essential. Unless there's a new PI with 192khz audio that I'm not aware of.

Forgot to mention. You should try using Butt with Icecast on the server PC. It is an easy way to test the audio stream. You may also need VBCable, but I forgot.

Albert H
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Re: Raspberry pi and stereotool

Post by Albert H » Sun Aug 19, 2018 2:19 pm

I use a Raspberry Pi with Stereotool using a "Sound Injector" A to D and D to A card that runs at 192kHz. The Pi 3+ is only just man enough for the job, and you have to stop all other services!
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MC Spanner
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Re: Raspberry pi and stereotool

Post by MC Spanner » Mon Aug 20, 2018 1:43 am

Albert H wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 2:19 pmusing a "Sound Injector" A to D and D to A card
I'm guessing this means you're sampling baseband audio, processing it in some way using stereo tool and then outputting processed audio and/or multiplex? How does it fit into your broadcast chain. I've never heard good things about stereo tool on the Pi. To be fair though I've never actually used it as I always assumed it would be too much for the Pi. I use sox for everything. :geek:

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Re: Raspberry pi and stereotool

Post by nrgkits.nz » Tue Aug 21, 2018 11:42 am

Use an Intel Nuc mini PC, you could even take the pcb out and mount it inside the with rig

MC Spanner
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Re: Raspberry pi and stereotool

Post by MC Spanner » Tue Aug 21, 2018 11:38 pm

Aren't we talking over 200 quid once you've bought RAM, storage and a decent soundcard which gives you analogue audio out at a suitable sample rate. That's going to be an order of magnitude higher than the cost of the Pi, even with an external DAC (PCM5102 boards are under £3 these days).

Albert H
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Re: Raspberry pi and stereotool

Post by Albert H » Wed Aug 22, 2018 12:20 am

MC Spanner wrote: Mon Aug 20, 2018 1:43 am
Albert H wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 2:19 pmusing a "Sound Injector" A to D and D to A card
I'm guessing this means you're sampling baseband audio, processing it in some way using stereo tool and then outputting processed audio and/or multiplex? How does it fit into your broadcast chain. I've never heard good things about stereo tool on the Pi. To be fair though I've never actually used it as I always assumed it would be too much for the Pi. I use sox for everything. :geek:
I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it out. The important thing is to be certain to shut down every unneeded service! It's not truly hi-fi, but it's better than "Heart"
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Original pirate
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Re: Raspberry pi and stereotool

Post by Original pirate » Mon Aug 27, 2018 2:02 pm

Update

I have managed to run my stream through audacious and I'm running stereotool through jackd, the way I made stereotool processing work on the audio was in the jackd connect button, audacious line to stereotool in left and right, then device speaker line to stereotool out left and right, no RDS is working but the audio is now being processed and sounds really good from the 3.5m Jack on the pi board. I'll post a video later showing how the line plumbing gets it all working
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Albert H
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Re: Raspberry pi and stereotool

Post by Albert H » Mon Aug 27, 2018 3:42 pm

Original pirate wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 2:02 pm Update

I have managed to run my stream through audacious and I'm running stereotool through jackd, the way I made stereotool processing work on the audio was in the jackd connect button, audacious line to stereotool in left and right, then device speaker line to stereotool out left and right, no RDS is working but the audio is now being processed and sounds really good from the 3.5m Jack on the pi board. I'll post a video later showing how the line plumbing gets it all working
That's pretty much what I did, except that I used an "Audio Injector" A->D and D->A card. They cost about £15 from either Audio Injector themselves or through Pimoroni. The results from the sound card are exceptional now that I've shut down all the unnecessary services. I've got a couple of stations using this kind of set-up at the moment.

It's also a great idea to use Rivendell (get the "Appliance ISO" for an easy installation) for your station automation. It's spreadsheet-based, you just drop audio files into time slots on a spreadsheet calendar.
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"Because it doesn't know the words!"
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