Music Server Project

[mep]

No, no more crashes. I swear nothing is going right today! My Iphone signal to AT&T is so weak in my house, it can't get out on the web. I have a wireless router which my laptop is connected to right now and it works fine. Iphone finds the wifi network and says it connected, but yet it still tells me I have no service! I don't get it. Also, how do I set up a virtual hotspot on the computer?

I disconnected the Iphone from the wireless network and was able to get a signal so I'm in the process of downloading the remote app to the Iphone. I still don't have a clue on how to set up the laptop to be a hotspot. It looks like it is going to take some software to make that happen?

 

[mep]

This is starting to get on my last nerve. I have downloaded the remote app to my Iphone. I have downloaded two separate programs to turn the laptop into a virtual hotspot. The first was Connectivity, but the free version doesn't work of course. The second one was Virtual Router. But virutal router needs a "certified for windows 7 wireless driver."

 

[mep]

I got if figured out somehow. I had to download some Intel drivers, run some commands from the administrator prompt, and now my Iphone controls foobar. That will beat the hell out of getting down on on my knees behind my left speaker where I currently have my laptop sitting on a wooden box that is filled with sand.

I still don't think I have Foobar optimized though.

 

[garylkoh]

Mark - the last paragraph on my instructions detail how to set up a Virtual Hotspot. It's an undocumented Windows 7 command - [netsh].

I'm glad that you got it working with your iPhone! For the Emu 0404, try a Buffer Length of 480ms (it's not recommended by Foobar, but different buffer lengths below 1000ms sound better). [File] - [Preferences] - [Playback] - [Output].

Also, try both WASAPI and ASIO. They sound different, but WASAPI doesn't seem to work at anything higher than 24/96 and the Emu ASIO is not certified for Windows 7 and seems to crash every now and then.

 

[Vincent Kars]

-- but WASAPI doesn't seem to work at anything higher than 24/96

No, this has nothing to do with WASAPI
Win supports USB audio class 1.
This is tied to USB 1 (full speed).
The payload of full speed is insufficient to play the next higher sample rate (2 ch 24/176)
You need USB audio class 2 (USB 2 high speed) to play anything > 24/96
This is not supported by M$.
You need a third party USB audio class 2 driver or ASIO to play > 24/96
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/USB.html

 

[garylkoh]

No, this has nothing to do with WASAPI
Win supports USB audio class 1.
This is tied to USB 1 (full speed).
The payload of full speed is insufficient to play the next higher sample rate (2 ch 24/176)
You need USB audio class 2 (USB 2 high speed) to play anything > 24/96
This is not supported by M$.
You need a third party USB audio class 2 driver or ASIO to play > 24/96
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/USB.html

Sorry, what I mean to say is that the EMU-0404 does not work with WASAPI at higher than 24/96.

I was using a USB DAC at CES that supported WASAPI at 32/384.

 

[mep]

Gary-Thanks so much for all of your help! I still need to optimize foobar, but at least I was able to get my Iphone to sync with the laptop. I don't know if I could do it again though! I have been building my own computers from scratch since the early 1990s and I'm pretty good at the hardware side of things. Software-not so good. I felt like Forest Gump after he tore down his M-16 and put it back together in a few seconds and his drill sargent said, "Gump! You're a Gotdamn genius!."

 

[microstrip]

Gary,

I have now read your excellent detailed instructions on your music server and the followups in WBF. You choose to use Foobar versus JRiver because of sound quality or convenience? .

 

[mep]

I bragged too soon. Foobar crashed hard. It wouldn't even let me restart it in safe mode. I had to reboot the computer which of course meant I lost the commands I entered in the admin command box. Foobar did restart after the reboot and somehow I still have some connectivity between my Iphone and Foobar.

Gary, the commands you listed in your instructions are different than the commands I found on the web. After I rebooted, it would no longer accept the commands it previously did which makes no sense to me. I will try your commands tomorrow.

 

[mep]

Almost everything seems to be working fine and how I have no idea why. I will master this yet. I lost the album art on Art Pepper, but Waltz for Debby is still there (I haven't run through the rest of them yet) and I don't understand that.

 

[garylkoh]

Gary,

I have now read your excellent detailed instructions on your music server and the followups in WBF. You choose to use Foobar versus JRiver because of sound quality or convenience? .

I originally picked Foobar for sound quality. However, I have been reliably told (by a few people who built the 4th version of my server) that the latest version of JRiver is as good if not better than Foobar. I have been meaning to try it out, but I just don't have the time. I was rushing this version because I wanted to use it for CES. If I have any more updates, or any more tweaks, I will update the instructions and post here.

 

[garylkoh]

Almost everything seems to be working fine and how I have no idea why. I will master this yet. I lost the album art on Art Pepper, but Waltz for Debby is still there (I haven't run through the rest of them yet) and I don't understand that.

I always say that humans make mistakes, but to really, really screw up, you need a computer. If it crashed hard, and you've made registry and service changes without keeping notes, you might want to restore it from the last set of DVD-R's I suggested making in my instructions - the ones just before replacing the hard disk with an SSD.

I put in a 240GB OCZ Agility 2 drive in mine. Tiger Direct had a special after Christmas and I only paid $249 for it (with an instant discount). Prices will go down, and speeds will improve, but for right now, sign up to Tiger's email offers, and you may get lucky.

 

[mep]

Foobar is working fine now. There are some odd things going on with the network connection between the Iphone and the laptop. After Foobar crashed hard and I had to reboot the computer, I lost the virtual hot spot because the commands I had entered in the administrator command prompt were no longer there. However, the Iphone still found my regular wifi network and locked on that (but the signal is weak as the wireless router is upstairs at the other end of the house). I started the remote app on the Iphone and it linked right to Foobar which surprised me since I thought I had to have the laptop be the virtual hotspot. I would think I would have a much stronger signal on the Iphone that way, but I was surprised that the Iphone would still link to Foobar via my home wireless network.

And if you try and increase the buffer size much from the default value, it will crash Foobar.

 

[garylkoh]

Mark, if the iPhone found your regular wifi network and then found Foobar, then your music server is also linked to your regular wifi. That's dangerous if you have all the security disabled like I recommended. To de-link the music server from the internet, you'll have to go into the Network and Sharing Center and forget the home wifi. But if you left all the security enabled, then it's fine to let it work that way.

If you try to increase the buffer size and it crashes Foobar, you have a problem with the installed RAM. I run my Foobar with 480ms buffer for playing off the SSD, and 8000ms when playing CDs using the installed DVD-R drive.

 

[mep]

The buffer defaults to 880ms.

 

[garylkoh]

That is really strange. It should default to 1000ms.

How much memory is installed? Have you tried doing a memory scan/check?

 

[mep]

The system shows it has 4 gigs of RAM installed.

 

[garylkoh]

Try running this: http://www.memtest.org/

Even if the system shows 4 gigs of RAM, there could be problems with the RAM.

 

[mep]

Try running this: http://www.memtest.org/

Even if the system shows 4 gigs of RAM, there could be problems with the RAM.

Nothing simple about this program. You have to download it, unzip it, burn a CD and then boot from the CD in order to test your memory??

 

[Vincent Kars]

Open the Win Resource Monitor, it will tell you a lot about memory use.