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Thread: [HowTo] Streaming audio from Winamp/XMMS/etc.

  1. #1

    Post [HowTo] Streaming audio from Winamp/XMMS/etc.

    I recently invested some time in getting my WL-500g router to wirelessly play audio from Winamp, and I'd like to share this information with everybody, as I couldn't find much about this topic in the forums. The whole text is also available on this web page.

    Installing EsounD on the WL-500g

    For receiving sound streams on the router and playing them on the USB sound card, the well-kown EsounD daemon is used. You can either install it as an ipgk from Unslug or download the binary file from this location:

    EsounD daemon binary: esd

    Before starting it, the default ASUS sound server (useable only from Windows Media Player) needs to be killed, as it occupies the sound card:
    Code:
    killall waveservermain
    killall waveserver
    Then the esd daemon can be started:
    Code:
    esd -d /dev/sound/dsp -tcp -public &
    Connecting to the soundcard from a client computer

    If you are running Linux, you can use an audio player like XMMS or amaroK, choose an EsounD output plugin (gstreamer in case of amaroK) and enter the server's IP address.

    In order to connect to the EsoundD server from Windows, Kasper Laudrup has a nice EsounD output plugin for Winamp available at his site. Note that for Winamp 5 you need to download the Winamp 2 version, not Winamp 3. At the bottom of this page, there also is a link to an updated version, which includes better resampling.

    Special issues with the Audigy 2 NX

    If you have a Soundblaster Audigy 2 NX USB soundcard, some extra work has to be done as this one is not completely behaving like a normal USB soundcard. However, at least on Windows this is an excellent sound card, and it has a very good signal quality.

    Updated kernel module

    Note: the patch is included in the firmware from version 1.9.2.7-7b on, so it is no longer necessary to replace the module


    The standard ASUS usb soundcard driver does not work with an Audigy 2 NX, so I had to patch it. Now it seems to run pretty stable. You can download the updated kernel module here:

    binary module (compiled for 1.9.2.7-6b firmare): audio.o
    patch for the original kernel code: audio.c.diff

    To install the module, either replace the file in /lib/modules/2.4.20/kernel/drivers/usb/ (if you are running off a USB drive) and reboot or download it to some other location and exchange the module in the kernel with the following commands:

    Code:
    rmmod audio
    insmod audio.o


    Resampling

    In case the soundcard uses a different sampling rate than your sound files, the esd daemon on the router will automatically resample the audio stream. Normally this should be no problem, as esd by default runs at 44100Hz, which also is the sampling rate of most MP3/Ogg/AAC/... files and therefore no resampling should happen. However, if you have an Audigy 2 NX, esd will only run at 48000Hz. Now the problem is that esd does a pretty bad job at resampling which results in audible loss of sound-quality, especially at high frequencies.

    The solution was to modify the esd Winamp plugin to automatically resample to the server frequency using the Secret Rabbit Code library, which provides much higher conversion quality. The updated Winamp2/5 plugin is available for download at the following location:

    EsounD Winamp output plugin with resampling: out_esd.dll, sources

    To install, just copy the dll into the Winamp/Plugins directory and configure the plugin from Winamp preferences.

    Of course, you use the information given here and the software available for download at your own risk. The author is not responsible for any damage it may cause to your computer or router.
    Last edited by daniel632; 08-01-2006 at 18:03.

  2. #2
    It's a great job.

    I will try it in Foobar2000.

  3. #3

    need more help

    Hi
    Can you please give me some detail information how to run the esound demon on wl500g and how to configure the winamp plugin.
    I have download the esd binary, but what i shut do with it?
    Thanks a lot for reply
    Kristel

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Germany
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    Hi daniel632

    Works nicely here, thank you for this.
    ESD may be called buggy, but works still way better then the waveserver .
    CPU usage ranges usually under 20%, very good.

    I want to point out WinESD which creates a virtual soundcard on windows which can output to the ESD Server on the Router. This is for me the "best you want" solution .

    And, ESD is small enough to be saved to the flashfs...
    And, you can use my "smixer" binary to controll the output volume of esd on the router (see pallantir thread).

    Greets
    Wlanman
    Last edited by WlanMan; 26-01-2006 at 02:01.
    My Stuff: WL-500g, Mapower H31x 10GB HD, Philips Webcam Vesta PRO, TerraTec Webcam PRO, USB Hub

  5. #5

    Details on downloading and configuring

    Quote Originally Posted by kristel
    Can you please give me some detail information how to run the esound demon on wl500g and how to configure the winamp plugin.
    I have download the esd binary, but what i shut do with it?
    I assume that you are already running Olegs firmware, it won't work without. You need to open a telnet or ssh connection to the router (e.g. with putty) using the router's login name (admin) and the password. First, kill the waveserver as described in the first post.

    If you are running from a usb memory stick or hard drive, I suggest to download esound using the ipkg program:
    Code:
    ipkg install esound
    esd -d /dev/sound/dsp -tcp -public &
    In case the router is not booting off a usb drive, you can download the binary directly using wget:
    Code:
    cd /usr/local
    wget http://home.in.tum.de/%7Epustka/mipsel/esd
    chmod a+x esd
    and then start the demon with
    Code:
    /usr/local/esd -d /dev/sound/dsp -tcp -public &
    Of course, the changes will get lost when the router is restarted, e.g. due to power loss. To keep the file permanently, you could save the file to flashfs, as suggested by WlanMan. For details, please see Olegs page. In this case, you also might want to create a post-boot script to start the demon automatically

    The Winamp plugin (out_esd.dll) needs to be downloaded to the winamp plugin directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Winamp 5\Plugins). Then, it is configured in the winamp preferences: (Ctrl-P)->Plugins->Output->Esound Output for Winamp. There, click configure. For the host, enter the ip or name of your router, by default "192.168.1.1" or "my.router". The port needs to be 16001. You could also change the password (must be 16 characters), but you need to restart the esound demon afterwards. From my experience, you also need to use the same password on all computers that should be able to access the soundcard.
    Last edited by daniel632; 28-01-2006 at 00:19.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Question

    Quote Originally Posted by WlanMan

    I want to point out WinESD which creates a virtual soundcard on windows which can output to the ESD Server on the Router. This is for me the "best you want" solution .
    Which OS you're using?I am interested if WinESD could be used on WinXP, cause website seems not updated a long time already and it could be dangerous to use it on WinXP

    Greetings,
    Cunami

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by cunami
    Which OS you're using?I am interested if WinESD could be used on WinXP, cause website seems not updated a long time already and it could be dangerous to use it on WinXP

    Greetings,
    Cunami
    Hi

    Using WindowsXP with SP1 (but that dosn´t matters).
    After installing the driver like described (however slightly differend cause of ever-changing dialoges) you can add the registry key. After restarting which is indeet needet it works here, you can select the winesd device as sound output in various aplications. But i dont recoment setting it as the system default soundcard. Many programs work with it, media player classic worked good, whereas videolan client had scrapy audio and timewarped video.

    So, your mileage may vary depending on your aplication. But otherwise, this can be a problem of my tormented windows, running for far too long since last reinstall

    Greets
    Wlanman
    My Stuff: WL-500g, Mapower H31x 10GB HD, Philips Webcam Vesta PRO, TerraTec Webcam PRO, USB Hub

  8. #8
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    Cool

    Quote Originally Posted by WlanMan
    Hi
    Using WindowsXP with SP1
    Thanks for reply WlanMan! I will try on my WinXP SP2 soon and will post here results how it worked.

    Greetings,
    Cunami

  9. #9

    Hi daniel632

    Thank you for instructions.

    Yes, i use Olegs Firmware V. ****-6b and esd is now running i think.
    But it seems to be a problem with my soundcard, it's a Audimax F1 and the supported samplerate is 48kHz.

    How i read from your thread in the newest FW are updated audio drivers for wl-500g, so i wil try with V.****-7b

    Thanks again for your help.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by kristel
    the supported samplerate is 48kHz.
    Kristel,
    my card is also working at 48kHz, but esd runs without any problem. You can youse winamp plugin with resampling fix, which has been changed, to work with cards, which are running exactly at 48kHz. I tried that and for me everything works good, could not notice any wrong or bad behaviour.

    Good luck!
    Cunami

  11. #11

    Thumbs up Sounds great now!

    Ok, you have right.
    48kHz is no problem...

    unsupported playback rate: 44100
    Audio device open for 44.1Khz, stereo, 16bit failed
    Trying 44.1Khz, 8bit stereo.
    unsupported playback rate: 44100
    Audio device open for 44.1Khz, stereo, 8bit failed
    Trying 48Khz, 16bit stereo.

    So my problem was another, i have not start esd from "/usr/local"

    Now i can play all the codecs of my audio files, that's funky!

    Thank you all for helping me!
    Greets

  12. #12
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    Thumbs down

    Quote Originally Posted by WlanMan
    Hi

    Using WindowsXP with SP1 (but that dosn´t matters).
    Well sometimes it matters I guess :-) I have tried to install WinESD on my WinXP SP2. After couple of times I succeeded. Then I have tried to make it work. In the beginning I was just getting annoying sounds, which are error messages (as it is written in website of WinESD creator). Then somehow I got it working, but I could not call it "really working" - cause sound is coming somehow with slowdowns, the speed of music is varying all the time and I am hearing terrible effect :-). Even my windows couple of times was also running so slow... What could be the problem? I am sure this is not a network problem as my home network is almost empty, not other computers are using it. Could this be somehow related that I have SP2 installed?

    Thanks,
    Cunami

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by cunami
    Well sometimes it matters I guess :-) I have tried to install WinESD on my WinXP SP2. After couple of times I succeeded. Then I have tried to make it work. In the beginning I was just getting annoying sounds, which are error messages (as it is written in website of WinESD creator). Then somehow I got it working, but I could not call it "really working" - cause sound is coming somehow with slowdowns, the speed of music is varying all the time and I am hearing terrible effect :-). Even my windows couple of times was also running so slow... What could be the problem? I am sure this is not a network problem as my home network is almost empty, not other computers are using it. Could this be somehow related that I have SP2 installed?
    As SP2 does not change anything relevant on the audio subsystem, i dont expect this to be the problem.
    If you got it working, then esd+router are operating properly.
    As is saied, you get good to useless results depending on the aplication that sends the music. This is a matter of the way the aplications synchronise the audio (maybe relaying on some constant parameters on a real soundcard, like sample eacht xx-ms...), or simply winesd beeing quite beta .

    What aplications you used to stram the audio ??

    Windows running strangely was an effect of using winesd as the default audio device here, you shouldn´t do this

    Greets
    Wlanman
    My Stuff: WL-500g, Mapower H31x 10GB HD, Philips Webcam Vesta PRO, TerraTec Webcam PRO, USB Hub

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by WlanMan

    What aplications you used to stram the audio ??
    I was using winamp. And trying to use winamp with esd output plugin was much much better. Just this plugin is also quite beta, so I cannot play streams (like shoutcast), as it does not support them. I guess I will try to play strems directly from router then, but this is not so nice solution...

    ~Cunami

  15. #15

    Smile Same problem, Somebody to help?

    I have done everything as Daniel wrote.
    Download was ok, but when I tried to start proces the answet is:

    /dev/sound/dsp: No such file or directory

    What might be wrong ??

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Connecting to home.in.tum.de[131.159.74.1]:80
    esd 100% |***************************| 90568 00:00 ETA
    [admin@hobbiton local]$ chmod a+x esd
    [admin@hobbiton local]$ /usr/local/esd -d /dev/sound/dsp -tcp -public &
    [admin@hobbiton local]$ - using device /dev/sound/dsp
    /dev/sound/dsp: No such file or directory
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Stanislav

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