Project with PeppyMeter/PeppySpectrum Screensaver Plugin for VOLUMIO

not available yet. Currently they are made (from the spectrum): 1920x1080, 1480x320 and 1280x400.

Hello Gelo5

So I just copy the content folder to custom 10 folder templates
Thanks
,

Hi @dewen,
that sounds good. Spotify have a very sensible output and works different with different sound cards.
In some circumstances the copy pcm is needed and with some sound cards not. With some sound cards Spotify stops playing after a 10 seconds without the copy pcm.
I would now create a gui switch to enable and disable this copy section in the final v2.1
However, it is difficult to explain what this switch does. :wink:

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Thank you for your kindly works and help !
Now it works very well !

There is a small problem but not so important,
when playing a spotify song for about 20 second ( it will load the song to a buffer I think ) and Peppymeter screensaver is activate,
while the Spotify song keep playing, and you choose “Music Library” → INTERNAL → any song ( MP3, flac…) from micro-SD card, then the MP3 song will be shown in the PeppyMeter screen and the needle also movement, but there is no sound output, you have to click the STOP button to interrupt the playing, and then click PLAY button again, then the MP3 sound output will be OK.

That is, when you choose local MP3 song to play while spotify song is playing, in normal condition the spotify song will be interrupt and MP3 song start to play, but now the spotify song seems occupy the sound output port so MP3 no sound output.

It is not so important since I can just interrupt and play it again, but maybe it can also be fixed in the future version. thank you !

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Brawo @dewen ! these are constructive opinions. These help improve the plugin.

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hI @dewen, I have the same issue as you between Spotify and Peppymeter, the only difference is that i usa an usb-dac SMSL C100.
I changed Peppyalsa.postPeppyalsa.5.conf.tmpl and the result is that finally no clicks or stutterings are performed but (another big problem) Spotify tracks skips randomly during performing and only sometimes tracks end regularry.
Other issue i noticed is that if i switch from Spotify to NAS files, Volumio don’t respond and i need before disable Peppymeter and then renable to perform normally music from Nas, as Spotify freezed music performing from other sources.
I was thinkin to change my usbdac (thinking that the problem is tha combination not good among the smsl and peppymeter,spotify…and so on ) with another that someone tested to be free of problems like mine…but now i hear that you have the same problem with an hat dac…so i think that the problem is in Peppymeter…or not ? :person_shrugging:

Hi @Roberto_Grieco ,

I was so curious why you have had so many issues with your set up so I went ahead and ordered the SMSL C100 to see if the fault is at the dac.

The C100 came today and I just put it in my system. The Volumio v3.666 on RPi5 with NVMe connects to the C100 via a USB A->C that comes with the C100. It’s a nice little dac for under US$100. Once it connected, Volumio detects it right away under “SMSL USB Audio”.

Here is the result. No issue whatsoever!

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Hi @Roberto_Grieco

The click sound is so tiny that I need to use earphone and play solo piano music to confirm it. Maybe others had the same problem but ignore it ?

Some suggestion

  1. Playback option → audio buffer size → 1 MB. It seems reduce the click frequency ? may help for spotify skip track ?
  2. change USB cable, port, use Ethernet instead of WiFi. change faster micro-SD card, PSU power enough ?
  3. did the spotify skip track / click noise if you use the build in 3.5mm audio output instead of USB DAC ?

You can try stop Spotify playing before play NAS music to see if change source ( NAS ) is OK ?

I only had InnoMaker HAT DAC, so I can not do cross test to rule out what the problem is due to PeppyMeter or DAC related, but I think it is due to Spotify too sensitive as @2aCD said, different device / enviromet may have different results.

If I use waveshare 5.5 amoled screen HDMI as audio output ( it has 3.5mm jack onboard ( quality is not good ) so I can monitor it by earphone even in RPi5, the click sound is more severe with some “empty sound” interrupt. I think it is due to the waveshare onboard’s DAC (HDMI to 3.5mm audio) quality is not good, so it produce more click than InnoMaker HAT DAC.

If I use RPi4’s build-in onboard 3.5mm earphone to monitor, the click is rare, occasioally appear and is very small volume, maybe it’s due to the RPi4’s build-in DAC better than waveshare onboard’s HDMI DAC and InnoMaker HAT DAC ? If you are interested to test the RPi4’s build in 3.5mm DAC, since the spotify click is hardly to detect, you may need to use earphone monitor and play solo piano music to find it.

It seems the click is DAC related, different DAC had different severity, even RPi4’s build-in DAC has rare click.

Anyway, all the DAC click problem can be fixed by the slave.pcm “postpeppyalsa” method.

@naimnatnod Andy. I’m really curious to understand something more about this “IT mystery”…software or hardware? Posterity will judge…!!!

@dewen, my clicks are very loud, I hear them clearly from my normal speakers

I’ll try and let you know

Done without results.

I’ll try and let you know

I’ll try and let you know
My waveshare 11.9 1480*320 doesn’t have a 3,5 plug but built-in speakers and i’lltry to hear clicks

Yes clicks disappear but Spotify get mad and randomly skips track during performing

So happy with Peppy ;-), that I made a post about it… :wink:

Have you tried HDMI connect to a normal 1920x1080P FHD TV /monitor instead of waveshare display, and use your USB DAC, to check if it is better ?

Do you use RPi4 ? How do you rotate your waveshare screen in userconfig.txt ?

I can confirm the InnoMaker HAT DAC click can be fixed by the
slave.pcm “postpeppyalsa” method.

@dewen all my tests need a bit of time and now i’m very busy. As soon as i’ve 1-2 hours i’ll test everything you suggest me and i’ll give all the answers.
To rotate my waveshare i add to userconfig.txt this command: display_rotate=1 (#1:90;2: 180; 3: 270)

Hello @Roberto_Grieco
Since your issue is a delicate one , what do you think for having a post just for your issue ?
Maybe it can be tracked better .
@Wheaten what do you think.
Thanks

difficult, seems related on combi with peppy. If i split the topic I expect Roberto gets no help.

Hi @Wheaten,
I described it in great detail with him over PM. And we tested a lot of things. The issue occours only with peppyalsa in combination with Spotify (only with Spotify) and it seems only with his USB-DAC. It sounds as an buffer underrun of audio buffer or spotify buffer. I can explain exactly what I do in alsa pipeline and why, if you are interested. I think it’s better per PM

So it’s a unique combi, that errors out on one specific combination.
Not related to any dependency of Spotify or Peppy. As if that was the case more people would complain.
We have another user who bought the same DAC and reports no issues.
So it’s either related to his DAC, issues with his rPi, PSU and or cable.

From a supporting point we can’t do much more.

Hi Andy, many thanks for your test with this DAC-Type. The problem occurred only with Spotify. All other sources seems ok for him.
Can you please repeat the Spotify test with both alsa configurations. Many thanks
2aCD

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I found some 1920x1080P Spectrum runs a little lag on Pi 4
( eg. Kenwood Spectrum by @Gelo5 )
compare with Pi 5, the bar seems not so sensntive ?

I made a compare video, maybe Pi 4 CPU is not powerful for 1920x1080 large Spectrum ?

I use waveshare 5.5 amoled screen, if I use display_rotate command, the video is very slow and lag, sometimes cause the audio problem. I have to use
Waveshare AMOLED on Pi5 and Pi4 with GPU acceleration - Volumio Development - Volumio Community
to accelerate the GPU speed.
Maybe the display is the cause ? so I suggest you try 1920x1080P HDMI TV to see if any difference.