Items AlsaPlayer

AlsaPlayer

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SYNOPSIS

Note that you can have as many AlsaPlayer objects as you want but each one must have a unique alsa device name.

use AlsaPlayer;

  my $mp3_player = new AlsaPlayer('mp3_player', 'alsa_device_name');

use PlayList;

  my $kirk_mp3s = new PlayList;

  if ($Reload) {
    # Starts the Alsaplayer process
    $mp3_player->start();

    # Populate the playlist
    $kirk_mp3s->add_files('/mnt/mp3s/KirkAll.m3u');
    $kirk_mp3s->add_files('/mnt/mp3s/blah/blah.mp3');
    $kirk_mp3s->add_files('/mnt/mp3s/favorites/');

    # Start playing the MP3s
    $mp3_player->add_playlist($kirk_mp3s);
    $mp3_player->unpause();
  }

If you want randomized playlist, you can call the randomize() function on the PlayList object before adding it to the player but after populating it with MP3s. Instead (or in addition to), you can call shuffle(1) on AlsaPlayer before adding any playlists. This requires you to have patched your AlsaPlayer as described just above the shuffle function in this module.

DESCRIPTION

Allows the full creation and control of alsaplayer processes on your system. I use this with a M-Audio Delta 410 and the Linux ALSA drivers to create up to four simultaneous stereo MP3 streams. I then connect those outputs to my Netstreams Musica whole-house audio system to provide customised music throughout my house.

You can get the most current version of this file and other files related whole-house music/speech setup here: http://www.linux.kaybee.org:81/tabs/whole_house_audio/

Alsaplayer:

This MisterHouse module assumes the 'alsaplayer' program is installed and operational as the MisterHouse user. Since I run mine in real-time mode, and local security is not a big issue, I have my binary set setuid root (owned by root and mode 4555). You can help improve performance by telling alsaplayer to not load ID3 tags from MP3s by modifying its configuration file (.alsaplayer/config in your home directory) and setting 'mad.parse_id3' to false. I do this when I'm running MP3s off of a network drive.

Usage Details:

Input States: The object accepts the following input states:

 - next: Go to the next song
 - previous: Go to the previous song
 - pause: Pause the player
 - unpause: Resume the player

Output States: You can watch for the following states from an AlsaPlayer object:

 - new_song: Player just started playing a new song.
 - playlist_loaded: Player just finished loading the current playlist

TODO:

• Have not implemented seeking/jumping to points in a MP3 (--seek and --relative)
• Have not implemented variable speed (--speed)
• Have not implemented the ability to jump straight to a specific track (--jump)

Notes:

The alsaplayer processes are not stopped when Misterhouse exits, but you could kill them by running 'killall alsaplayer' upon shutdown. This module attempts to reconnect with players through restarts, but if there are problems you may want to do a 'killall alsaplayer' followed by a 'rm /tmp/alsaplayer*'.

Bugs:

• Since the command-line of Alsaplayer only has '--pause' (toggle) and --play, this module attempts to keep track of the pause state, but sometimes it can get it wrong. So, it is best to set up a remote or voice command to allow you to manually pause/resume the MP3s...
• I believe the file ~/.alsaplayer/alsaplayer.m3u will mess things up and I recommend removing it before starting up Misterhouse.

Special Thanks to: Bruce Winter - MisterHouse

INHERITS

Generic_Item

METHODS

Method	Description
start()	Starts the process and/or resumes playing
stop()	Stops playing
remove_all_playlists()	removes all PlayList objects (and pauses the player).
add_playlist(obj)	adds a PlayList object to this player's MP3 queue
remove_playlist(obj)	removes a PlayList object from this player's MP3 queue
unpause()	Unpauses the player
pause()	Pauses the player
pause_toggle()	Pauses or unpauses the player
forward(seconds)	Jumps forward the specified number of seconds.
rewind(seconds)	Jumps back the specified number of seconds.
is_paused()	Returns current paused status
next_song()	Jump to the next song in the playlist
previous_song()	Return to the previous song in the playlist
volume(vol)	Sets the volume ('1.0' is 100%) and/or returns the current volume.
shuffle(bool)	Turns shuffle on or off -- should set before adding the MP3s and this does require a patch to your AlsaPlayer as described below.
get_album()	Returns the current album title (only if ID3 tags are set to be read in your alsaplayer config and the MP3 has ID3 tags).
get_title()	Returns the current song title (if ID3 tags are set to be read in your alsaplayer config and the MP3 has ID3 tags) or the name of the current MP3.
get_artist()	Returns the current artist name (only if ID3 tags are set to be read in your alsaplayer config and the MP3 has ID3 tags).
get_path()	Returns the filename of the song currently being played.
get_playlist_length()	Returns number of songs in playlist.
is_busy()	Returns true if one or more commands are waiting to be executed OR if songs are waiting to be added to the playlist.
add_files()	Adds arbitrary MP3s to this player
remove_files()	Removes arbitrary MP3s from this player
clear()	Removes all playlists and MP3s
get_playlist()	Returns current playlist
get_playlist_length()	Returns length current playlist
quit()	Shuts down the player (restart by calling start())
restart()	Restarts the player (I use this on my voice output channel... once I play MP3s on that output, until I restart alsaplayer aplay does not produce very good quality audio)

INI PARAMETERS

You can change the default binary location and options by copying the following lines into your mh.private.ini:

  alsaplayer_binary=alsaplayer
  alsaplayer_opts= -q --nosave -i daemon -P

AUTHOR

Kirk Bauer kirk@kaybee.org

SEE ALSO

PlayList