[pulseaudio-discuss] multiroom audio setup

[Colin Guthrie]

Russell Strong wrote:
> #!/usr/local/bin/pulseaudio -nF
> 
> .fail
> 
> load-module module-alsa-sink sink_name=lounge 
> device=surround40:CARD=CA0106_1 channels=4
> load-module module-alsa-sink sink_name=dining device=front:CARD=CA0106
> load-module module-alsa-sink sink_name=bedroom device=rear:CARD=CA0106
> 
> load-module module-native-protocol-unix
> load-module module-native-protocol-tcp 
> auth-ip-acl=192.168.42.10;192.168.42.3
> load-module module-zeroconf-publish
> 
> load-module module-volume-restore
> #load-module module-default-device-restore
> load-module module-rescue-streams
> load-module module-suspend-on-idle
> 
> 
> The first problem is with moving streams.  Whenever rhythmbox changes to 
> the next track.  The new track moves back to the default location.  I 
> suspect rhythmbox is closing and reopening it's connection?  Any sugestions?

I think module-volume-restore may actually need module-goconf in some 
capacity... there are patches floating around that load module-gonf 
early on to allow the remembering of default devices across sessions. 
That said I've not heard of it breaking mid-session. I've not personally 
had a chance to look into things relating to this.

> The second problem is glitchy playback when I run rhythmbox on my laptop 
> ( over wifi ).  Are there some buffering options I could try?  Ping 
> times appear well behaved, so I'm not sure what is going on here
> 28 packets transmitted, 28 received, 0% packet loss, time 27462ms
> rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 2.225/2.455/3.358/0.254 ms

Are you directly connection to the server and the sink (e.g. via the 
PULSE_SERVER and PULSE_SINK env vars?) or are you using a local 
pulseaudio server and module-tunnel?

If the latter try seeing if the former gives better results. For me the 
tunnel stuff doens't work too well over Wifi (over wired it's pretty 
rock solid).

I've not totally grasped whether it's built into it or not but I think 
the 0.9.11 branch has dynamic buffering characteristics for tunnels... 
even if it doesn't it is in theory possible with Lennart's new 
glitch-free achritecture, but I've not grasped all this new foo yet :)

> A third problem.  When compiling 0.9.10, the configure script didn't 
> detect that I didn't have libtool-ltdl-devel (that's what F9 calls it) 
> installed.

Interesting. I think Lennart's new libcanberra does the same thing... I 
didn't poke hard enough about it tho'. (and not double checked if it was 
fixed in the interim).

> A fourth thing I'm trying to work out is how to give the output devices 
> nice names in pavucontrol et. al.  As you can see from my config, I've 
> tried sink_name.

Sink name is indeed the way forward. What's it showing up as for you?


> Fifth, I'm seeing this output from pulseaudio.  However, I'm not sure 
> how to create a control device.  Also, could the absence of a control 
> device be responsible for my glitchy playback over wifi?
> W: alsa-util.c: Device (null) doesn't support 44100 Hz, changed to 48000 Hz.
> ALSA lib control.c:909:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL 
> surround40:CARD=CA0106_1
> W: alsa-util.c: Device (null) doesn't support 44100 Hz, changed to 48000 Hz.
> ALSA lib control.c:909:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:CARD=CA0106
> W: alsa-util.c: Device (null) doesn't support 44100 Hz, changed to 48000 Hz.
> ALSA lib control.c:909:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL rear:CARD=CA0106

Seeing as all your cards are the same you can set default-rate in 
daemon.conf to work around this issue.

I'll have to pass to someone cleverer than I on the control bit.

Col