/rAudio

Raspberry Pi audio player: AirPlay, Audio CD, Bluetooth, DAB radio, DSP, Internet rafio, Multi-room, Spotify Connect, UPnP/DLNA

Primary LanguageJavaScript

r A u d i o

Audio player for

  • Raspberry Pis:
    • 64bit: 5 4 3 2 Zero 2
    • 32bit: 2 (BCM2836)
    • Legacy: 1 Zero
  • BeagleBone Black
  • CubieBoard2

guide

  • Based on Arch Linux Arm
  • Control via GUI
    • Remote with any browsers
    • Android - rAudio app
    • Local display ${\textsf{\color{gray}(not on RPi Zero and 1)}}$
  • Share data and files between multiple rAudios
    • Server rAudio : clients (Easy setup with server IP address only)
    • File server : clients
    • Live data update - refresh across all rAudios
  • Live display update - refresh across multiple GUI clients
  • Metadata Tag Editor - kid3-cli
  • Album mode with coverarts
  • File mode with thumbnail icons
  • Coverarts and bookmarks - add, replace and remove
  • WebRadio coverarts - online fetched
  • *.jpg, *.png and animated *.gif applicable
  • *.wav - album artists and sort tracks
  • *.cue - virtually as individual tracks in all modes and user playlists
  • VU meter as coverart ${\textsf{\color{gray}(for remote screen)}}$
  • Wi-Fi connection can be pre-configured for headless mode.
  • Access point - hostapd
  • File sharing - samba
  • Easy update and extra features with Addons
  • Support boot from USB drive without SD card (DIY)
  • Local files
    • USB HDD
    • USB Audio CD
    • NAS
    • SD card
  • Renderers / Clients - with metadata and coverarts
    • AirPlay
    • Bluetooth audio receiver
    • SnapClient - Multiroom audio client
    • Spotify Connect
    • DLNA / UPnP
  • Streamers
    • Bluetooth audio sender
    • HTTP ${\textsf{\color{gray}(no metadata)}}$
    • SnapServer - Multiroom audio client
    • Web Radio
    • DAB Radio ${\textsf{\color{gray}(not on RPi Zero and 1)}}$
  • Digital Signal Processors
    • CamillaDSP ${\textsf{\color{gray}(not on RPi Zero and 1)}}$
    • Equalizer

Supported devices

  • Bluetooth:
    • Audio - Receiver / Sender
    • Keyboard and mouse
  • USB:
    • Bluetooth
    • DAC
    • Keyboard and mouse
    • SDR ${\textsf{\color{gray}(for DAB Radio)}}$
    • Wi-Fi
  • GPIO:

Default root password

  • ros
  • If enable SnapClient, Multiple rAudios or Shared Data, do not change password from default.

Q&A

Image files

DIY Image file

  • rOS - Build image files with interactive process

How-to

  • Write an image file to a micro SD card (8GB or more):

    • Install Raspberry Pi Imager
    • Download an image file.
    • CHOOSE OS > Use custom (OR right click the image file > Open with > Raspberry Pi Imager)
    • CHOOSE STORAGE:
      • Select SD card - normal boot
      • Select USB drive - boot from USB drive without SD card
        • For Raspberry Pi 2B v1.2, 3A+, 3B, 3B+, 4B
        • USB mass storage boot must be set.
        • Should be used only when USB drive is faster than SD card.
    • Do not set anything in Advance options
    • WRITE
    • Verify is optional.

  • Existing users:

    • Keep current setup SD card.
    • Try with a spare one before moving forward.
    • Use only backup made from rAudio with the latest update

  • Before power on:

    • Wired LAN connection is recommended
    • Wi-Fi pre-configure: (any of)
      • Edit template file:
        • Rename wifi0 in BOOT to wifi
        • Edit ESSID and Key.
      • From rAudio backup
      • From existing
        • Copy an existing profile file from /etc/netctl
        • Rename it to wifi then copy it to BOOT before power on.
    • Wi-Fi access point mode
      • Auto start: No IP address assigned from connected wired/wireless network
      • Force enable access point only: Place blank accesspoint file in BOOT before power on.
      • On client devices, select rAudio from Wi-Fi network list to connect with password raudioap.
      • On browser, open web user interface with URL raudio.local
      • Settings > Networks > Wi-Fi - search
      • Select access point to connect
      • Reboot
      • Browser refreshes when ready. (Manually refresh if it's too long.)
    • System pre-configure: (Run once)
      • Restore database and settings (Wi-Fi connection included.)
        • Copy rAudio backup file to BOOT
        • Use only backup made from rAudio with the latest update
      • Expand root partition:
        • By default, root partition will be expanded on initial boot.
        • SD card backup with shrunken root partition - Create a blank file expand in BOOT before backup
    • Display (if needed)
      • Connect before boot
      • HDMI display on RPi 4 and 5 - Use HDMI0 port

  • Boot duration

    • RPi4: 20+ seconds
    • RPi3: 50+ seconds
    • RPi1, Zero: 80+ seconds

  • After initial boot:

    • If there's a connected screen, IP address for connecting from remote devices will be displayed.
    • Before setup anything: Settings > Addons > rAudio > Update (if available)
    • Restore settings and database:
      • If not pre-configured, Settings > System > Backup/Restore Settings
    • Build Library database:
      • Automatically run on boot if database is empty with connected USB and NAS
      • Force build / update - Settings > update Library (icon next to Sources)
      • Tracks on existing database can be played during updating.
      • Before database is available, default WebRadio stations are available for playing.
    • Parse coverarts for Album and directory thumbnails :
      • Only if never run before or to force update
      • Library > Album > coverart icon (next to ALBUM heading)
    • User guide
      • Settings > last icon next to Addons

Not working?

  • Power off and wait a few seconds then power on
  • If not connected, temporarily connect wired LAN then remove after Wi-Fi setup successfully.
  • Still no - Download the image file and start over again

Tips

  • Best sound quality:
    • Settings > Player > Bit-perfect - Enable
    • Use only amplifier volume (Unless quality of DAC hardware volume is better.)
  • Disable features if not use to lower CPU usage:
    • Settings > Features
    • Disable Browser on RPi might cause audio glitches on refresh / switch page
      • After system upgrade pacman -Syu which kernel linux-raspberrypi also upgraded.
      • On 64bit version - Very likely, kernel upgraded or not.
  • Full screen UI
    • Android - rAudio app
    • Add to Home Screen (Safari on iOS, Chrome on Android)
  • Coverart as large playback control buttons
    • Tap top of coverart to see controls guide.
  • Hide top and bottom bars
    • No needs for top and bottom bars
    • Use coverart controls instead of top bar buttons
    • Swipe to switch between pages <- Library <-> Playback <-> Playlist ->
  • Drag to arrange order
    • Library home blocks
    • Playlist tracks
    • Saved playlist tracks
  • Some coverarts missing from album directories
    • Subdirectories listed after partial Library database update from context menu.
    • Subdirectories - context menu > Exclude directory
  • Some music files missing from library
    • Make sure embedded metadata in each file is in UTF-8 encoding.
    • Settings > MPD > question mark icon -scroll- FFmpeg Decoder
    • Enable if filetypes list contains ones of the missing files.
  • No albums found after update very large Library
    • Settings > MPD > Output Buffer - Increase by 8192 at a time
    • Update Library
  • CUE sheet
    • *.cue filenames must be identical to each coresponding music file.
    • Can be directly edited by Tag Editor.
  • Minimum permission for music files (on Linux ext filesystem)
    • Directories: rwxr-xr-x (755)
    • Files: rw-r--r-- (644)
  • RPi to router connection:
    • With wired LAN if possible - Disable Wi-Fi
    • With WiFi if necessary
    • With RPi accesspoint only if there's no router
  • Connect to rAudio with IP address instead of raudio.local
    • Get IP address: Menu > Network > Network Interfaces list
  • Backup SD card which already setup
    • On Linux: bash <( curl -sL https://github.com/rern/rOS/raw/main/imagecreate.sh )
      • Shrink ROOT partition to minimum
      • Create and compress image file
  • Custom startup / shutdown script
    • Copy custom script named startup.sh / shutdown.sh to BOOT