iTunes - HQPlayer front-end re-visited

[Lio_B]

Thanks mister Geoffrey

 

woks fine , sorry for the folder confusion

 

After some testing, I have same issues as DancingSea

 

The first track or album load is OK, and when I want to change for another album it's over...

 

Thanks

 

 

[Lio_B]

After further testing,

 

the switch beetwen tracks and album works but each time HQP volume go near to zero

 

regards 

[DancingSea]

8 minutes ago, Lio_B said:

After further testing,

 

the switch beetwen tracks and album works but each time HQP volume go near to zero

 

regards 

 

I had same volume issue.  Turning volume up on HQP is quickly turned back down...  Only got sound when it disconnected itself from iTunes...

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Can you try this new version. It links iTunes volume and HQPlayer's volume together. This allows remote control of HQPlayer volume from Apple Remote app on IOS as well.

 

This version also corrects a bug whereby previous server settings were not applied unless they were re-entered at each launch of the app. This wouldn't have effected anyone running iTunes and HQPlayer together on a Mac; but anyone using iTunes to serve to a Windows machine would have been effected.

 

This version also adds the ability to apply different HQPlayer configurations. I will explain more about that later.

 

 

iTunes - HQPlayer Server.app.zip

[Lio_B]

For me this  new version not works as announced,

 

first I had deleted the plist file

 

I have a delay between iTunes volume and HQP volume and no synchronisation 

HQP volume always go to zero

no HQP configuration enable

thanks

 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

20 hours ago, Lio_B said:

For me this  new version not works as announced,

 

first I had deleted the plist file

 

I have a delay between iTunes volume and HQP volume and no synchronisation 

HQP volume always go to zero

no HQP configuration enable

thanks

 

 

There are a couple of places where I mute HQPlayer's volume. This really should not be causing any problems and is used for smooth transitions when changing between albums/playlists.

 

Just as an experiment to see if it solves your problem I've attached a copy where these mute commands are removed.

 

I don't recommend anyone else to download this version; but please let me know if it makes any difference to you.

 

Also can you advise me how you have HQPlayer's volume control set up?

 

In other words what are your "Vol Min" and "Vol Max" settings in HQPlayer's preferences?

 

Thanks

iTunes - HQPlayer Server.app.zip

[Lio_B]

when I launch this last version HQP started but when I started a track in iTunes, only iTunes play, not HQP

 

find my settings:

 

[One and a half]

I'm following this thread with a lot of interest, reminds me of the integration with Amarra and Audirvana in the 'early days'. I can't contribute technically, so I will stay out of the thread most of the time, but I would be willing to put money into an app that would setup iTunes to play to HQ Player. There are two integrations (other than Roon) that are offered using HQ Player as an engine, but haven't lived up to expectations, the library manager was very poor. iTunes at least has the capability of a large database, with cover art and a decent search engine.

 

One mandatory proviso is recognition of DSD and FLAC files !

 

So how about it fellas, chip in $50-75 and get this project moving?

[Dr Tone]

3 minutes ago, One and a half said:

So how about it fellas, chip in $50-75 and get this project moving?

 

I'm out but I'll chip in $50-$75 to try to get Apple to quit making iTunes and allow 3rd party apps to load music onto iDevices.

[One and a half]

1 minute ago, Dr Tone said:

 

I'm out but I'll chip in $50-$75 to try to get Apple to quit making iTunes and allow 3rd party apps to load music onto iDevices.

Righto!

 

Onkyo HF Player can load DSD and FLAC music, but it needs iTunes to transfer (under shared applications). Or maybe not looking in the right place.

[DancingSea]

17 minutes ago, One and a half said:

 

One mandatory proviso is recognition of DSD and FLAC files !

 

 

That's part of the rub, until iTunes incorporates DSD and FLAC, its impossible to use iTunes as the front end for HQP and play those formats.  I seem to remember there is some script or app that tricks iTunes into accepting DSD, is that right?  Not sure if it would all work together with HQP though....

 

Its ok with me.  I'd just load my DSD files into HQP on its own, separate from iTunes.  All my FLAC files have long since been converted to ALAC or AIFF for iTunes.

 

Library management software is not easy to create.  Even the vaunted Roon, once you strip away their meta data stuff, has a rudimentary library management system compared to iTunes.  Don't get me wrong, beyond the library, I'm not a fan of iTunes.

 

I'd pay $15 - $20 for a simple app that let iTunes legitimately be a front end for HQP.  I don't see why such a thing should cost $50 - $75.  iTunes does the library, HQP does the playback, the app only has to connect the two - but I think the app would sell well at a lower price point.

[One and a half]

6 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

 

 

I'd pay $15 - $20 for a simple app that let iTunes legitimately be a front end for HQP.  I don't see why such a thing should cost $50 - $75.  iTunes does the library, HQP does the playback, the app only has to connect the two - but I think the app would sell well at a lower price point.

Simple versus time intensive, a difficult equation. I would leave it up to Geoffrey to decide the amount.

If it were an analog system, the problem is solved with a cable, on the one hand a dictator of an OS is not so simple.

[DancingSea]

3 minutes ago, One and a half said:

Simple versus time intensive, a difficult equation. I would leave it up to Geoffrey to decide the amount.

If it were an analog system, the problem is solved with a cable, on the one hand a dictator of an OS is not so simple.

 

Geoffrey seems fairly close, and is offering it for free currently.  $75 just seems high to me.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

1 hour ago, DancingSea said:

 

That's part of the rub, until iTunes incorporates DSD and FLAC, its impossible to use iTunes as the front end for HQP and play those formats.  I seem to remember there is some script or app that tricks iTunes into accepting DSD, is that right?  Not sure if it would all work together with HQP though....

 

Its ok with me.  I'd just load my DSD files into HQP on its own, separate from iTunes.  All my FLAC files have long since been converted to ALAC or AIFF for iTunes.

 

Library management software is not easy to create.  Even the vaunted Roon, once you strip away their meta data stuff, has a rudimentary library management system compared to iTunes.  Don't get me wrong, beyond the library, I'm not a fan of iTunes.

 

I'd pay $15 - $20 for a simple app that let iTunes legitimately be a front end for HQP.  I don't see why such a thing should cost $50 - $75.  iTunes does the library, HQP does the playback, the app only has to connect the two - but I think the app would sell well at a lower price point.

As i mentioned in a previous post, the only way to support those formats is by using, what I call, “surrogate files”.  I have another script that does this for DSD. It creates alac surrogates for DSD files. iTunes will play the surrogate; but iTunes-HQPlayer Server will send the DSD versions to HQPlayer.

 

I can send the additional script to create the surrogates to anyone whose interested.

[DancingSea]

On 12/20/2017 at 9:51 PM, Geoffrey Armstrong said:

Can you try this new version. It links iTunes volume and HQPlayer's volume together. This allows remote control of HQPlayer volume from Apple Remote app on IOS as well.

 

This version also corrects a bug whereby previous server settings were not applied unless they were re-entered at each launch of the app. This wouldn't have effected anyone running iTunes and HQPlayer together on a Mac; but anyone using iTunes to serve to a Windows machine would have been effected.

 

This version also adds the ability to apply different HQPlayer configurations. I will explain more about that later.

 

 

iTunes - HQPlayer Server.app.zip

 

Hi Geoffrey,

 

For me, when I launched this version it launches HQP and iTunes.  When I play a song in iTunes, it doesn't connect with HQP at all.  It just plays in iTunes.  True, the iTunes volume was not turned down this time, but it didn't matter as HQP has been left out.

 

Really appreciate your hard work.  Hoping we can get this together, what a blessing it will be!

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

LionelB and DancingSea,

 

There are a couple of things I'd like you to try and report whether they make a difference.

 

In the preferences:

 

1/ Whichever format you've selected for the creation of temporary files (flac or wav), can you change it to the other one, and see if that makes a difference.

 

2/ If you haven't selected to create a Ram disk, can you choose to create one and see if that makes a difference?

 

Thanks

 

BTW, iTunes match content will play through HQPlayer using my app; but in that case the format of the temporary files will have to be flac.

 

You also have to download the tracks you want to play from the cloud first, of course.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Geoff

[DancingSea]

On 12/22/2017 at 11:26 PM, Geoffrey Armstrong said:

 

 

In the preferences:

 

1/ Whichever format you've selected for the creation of temporary files (flac or wav), can you change it to the other one, and see if that makes a difference.

 

2/ If you haven't selected to create a Ram disk, can you choose to create one and see if that makes a difference?

 

 

 

Aloha,

 

Option 1 had no different effect.  The music played through iTunes only and came on the big rig.

 

Option 2 force the sound to come out the internal speakers through iTunes.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't really function yet.  Appreciate your efforts!

[Carl Mawer]

Hi

I have been using Geoffs iTunes - HQPlayer Server for a number of months now without any issues. All of my music is in AIFF format and on the internal drive of my mac mini. Give it a try, it works wonderfully. Using Remote on my iPhone to play albums through HQPlayer is a simple, fast, and elegant way to enjoy listening to my music collection.

 

I have found a couple of albums in my collection that would play in iTunes but not hand off to HQPlayer. Deleting these albums from iTunes and importing them again solved the problem.

 

For those of you reporting issues. Don't give up. Something in your setup will probably be causing a problem. I am sure that Geoff will be able to help once he returns from his Xmas break with his family.

 

Seasons Greetings

Carl

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

1 hour ago, Carl Mawer said:

Hi

I have been using Geoffs iTunes - HQPlayer Server for a number of months now without any issues. All of my music is in AIFF format and on the internal drive of my mac mini. Give it a try, it works wonderfully. Using Remote on my iPhone to play albums through HQPlayer is a simple, fast, and elegant way to enjoy listening to my music collection.

 

I have found a couple of albums in my collection that would play in iTunes but not hand off to HQPlayer. Deleting these albums from iTunes and importing them again solved the problem.

 

For those of you reporting issues. Don't give up. Something in your setup will probably be causing a problem. I am sure that Geoff will be able to help once he returns from his Xmas break with his family.

 

Seasons Greetings

Carl

Thanks for adding your positive comments Carl and for all the support you gave me in testing this and making suggestions.

 

I'll be quite happy to support both LionelB and DancingSea after the Christmas break via Teamviewer sessions to figure out what's going wrong on their set-ups.

 

I'll also appreciate any reports from anyone else who's tried this, both positive and negative. They can all help me to improve it.

 

Anyone trying this should first make sure HQPlayer itself is working well with their DAC and system, by simply dragging music files onto HQPlayer (in HQP supported formats, of course).

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Geoff

[Bob Stern]

Geoff, if you included Mute commands to avoid popping sounds in certain situations, like changing sample rates, I suggest you report the pops to Jussi as a bug.  HQP should mute the output automatically when necessary to eliminate pops.  That would eliminate the need for you to include mute commands in your program.

 

I'm unaware of any mute command in the desktop GUI.  (I have no experience with the touchscreen GUI.)  If mute normally is not used, it's not surprising that the conditions for un-mute are undefined.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Bob,

 

There is a mute command as part of the API. I Issue it simply to avoid any jarring changes when switching albums, not necessarily pops.

 

As long as an album has loaded correctly I send the mute command a second time to unmute.

 

In my experience pops through HQPlayer occur with particular DACs, rather than being an issue with HQP itself.

 

Geoff

 

 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

A few words about configurations:

 

HQPlayer 3.19 introduced the capability to load configurations via API calls.

 

For iTunes - HQPlayer server to work correctly you must have a "default.xml" file located in the hidden folder:

~/.hqplayer (meaning your home folder on your Mac and ".hqplayer" for HQPlayer's hidden folder).

 

(On Windows this is located in <your user folder>\AppData\Local\HQPlayer. AppData is a hidden folder, so you will need to show hidden files/folders from view options to see it).

 

The "default.xml" file is loaded each time a new track is loaded by iTunes - HQPlayer server. So it must be a correct configuration file with the preferences needed for your DAC/System.

 

If you want to over-ride this for any given Track/Album, then you'll need to enter the alternative configuration in the comments field of the Track/Album concerned.

 

The way you enter this in the comments field is: "hqp-" followed by the name of the config file you want loaded:

 

e.g. "hqp-livejazz.xml" (You may omit the ".xml")

 

This configuration file must also have been exported from hqplayer to the "~/.hqplayer" folder. Use the "export settings" command from HQPlayer's file menu.

 

(<user>\AppData\HQPlayer folder on Windows).

 

If there are any other comments in the comments field they must be separated by a comma, e.g. "label:ECM, hqp-livejazz.xml"

 

I've attached a new version which corrects a small bug that was preventing temp WAV files being created for iTunes match originating content. So now you can use WAV or flac for iTunes match stuff.

 

Geoff

iTunes - HQPlayer Server.app.zip

[DancingSea]

9 hours ago, Geoffrey Armstrong said:

A few words about configurations:

 

HQPlayer 3.19 introduced the capability to load configurations via API calls.

 

For iTunes - HQPlayer server to work correctly you must have a "default.xml" file located in the hidden folder:

~/.hqplayer (meaning your home folder on your Mac and ".hqplayer" for HQPlayer's hidden folder).

 

(On Windows this is located in <your user folder>\AppData\Local\HQPlayer. AppData is a hidden folder, so you will need to show hidden files/folders from view options to see it).

 

The "default.xml" file is loaded each time a new track is loaded by iTunes - HQPlayer server. So it must be a correct configuration file with the preferences needed for your DAC/System.

 

If you want to over-ride this for any given Track/Album, then you'll need to enter the alternative configuration in the comments field of the Track/Album concerned.

 

The way you enter this in the comments field is: "hqp-" followed by the name of the config file you want loaded:

 

e.g. "hqp-livejazz.xml" (You may omit the ".xml")

 

This configuration file must also have been exported from hqplayer to the "~/.hqplayer" folder. Use the "export settings" command from HQPlayer's file menu.

 

(<user>\AppData\HQPlayer folder on Windows).

 

If there are any other comments in the comments field they must be separated by a comma, e.g. "label:ECM, hqp-livejazz.xml"

 

I've attached a new version which corrects a small bug that was preventing temp WAV files being created for iTunes match originating content. So now you can use WAV or flac for iTunes match stuff.

 

Geoff

iTunes - HQPlayer Server.app.zip

 

Aloha,

 

Does any of this pertain to the issue Lio and I have been having?

 

I have a normal iTunes setup. Very standard. Your app simply won’t function to the effect both Lio and I have described. 

 

I really really don’t want to purchase Roon!

 

Thanks!

[Lio_B]

I had tested the last version.

 

HQP loaded tracks but no "default.xml" file in ~/.hqplayer 

 

But no problem with loading tracks in HQP, my 2 issues are:

 

- after 10 seconds the volume of HQP came to zero and impossible to fix it at the maximum.

 

- iTunes volume is at zero but a can ear a little the sound via iTunes which is with 3 or 4 seconds delay with HQP

 

In HQP log file, is it OK to find:

 

2017/12/28 22:01:13 CoreAudio device bits: 24
2017/12/28 22:01:13 Volume limit: 0

 

thanks again
 

[Lio_B]

to fix my volume issue with HPQ, I put Vol min & Vol max at 0.00db in HQP settings

 

the album tracks switch works with 10 seconds delay for loading new album tracks, but it works.