ideas for media player in exhibition?

[jef chippewa]

hey all, i'm coordinating the sound component of
an exhibition -- electroacoustic miniatures that
can be heard in the exhibition room by the
visitors.

i am working out how to play them back and wonder
if maybe someone here has some experience and
good ideas. the exhibition will run for some
time in a museum outside berlin (where i live).

the museum director loaned me their flash player
to try out, basically a HD with on/off switch
that takes an SD card. load and let it play.
they have a box built for it with one hardwired
speaker and a second that the visitor can put to
their ear. it is also possible to use 2 speakers
via a minijack plug. other options i am
considering are a tablet, an mp3 player and
iTunes on some device, or even a CD or DVD player.

the player will either be in a case behind glass
or in an open cove, in which case we would need
to build a case to protect it from misuse / theft.

i have to decide whether:
- visitors can themselves select works to listen
to or have no choice over the programme playback
- information (composer, work, etc) is shown on a
screen as the individual pieces play (powerpoint,
or perhaps as the "artwork" in iTunes files?) or
if a printout will give information about the
pieces (perhaps referencing the track numbers on
the CD/DVD)

ideas or suggestions are very welcome!!!

thanks,
jef

=====

PS information about the exhibit and vernissage concert:
http://facebook.com/events/1802793263382425

The artist and ELES scholarship holder Liat
Grayver and composer jef chippewa are combining
image and sound in a project that will be
presented in the Kurt Tucholsky Literaturmuseum
in Rheinsberg. The focus of this collaboration is
the "study of the object", the exploration of a
singular or reductive "material" that is used for
or becomes the primary focus of the work, through
the narrowing down of sonic / visual information
to its essential gestures. This theme is explored
and presented in the form of an audiovisual
exhibit that is opened with a curated concert of
electroacoustic miniatures. The project was
conceptualized during an "ELES-Kreativzeit in
Rheinsberg" artist residency in December 2016 -
January 2017.

A production of the Kurt Tucholsky
Literaturmuseum Rheinsberg in collaboration with
the Sound Studies programme of the Berlin Career
College at the Universität der Künste Berlin.

--
Épater la bourgeoisie... whatever. On the obsolescence of subversion
http://cec.sonus.ca/econtact/16_4/chippewa_subversion.html

http://newmusicnotation.com/chippewa
http://www.facebook.com/neueweise

[Philippe-Aubert Gauthier]

Hello Jef and list,

Recently I have been using Raspberry Pi for that purpose. Very easy to set up and the OS (Raspbian) come with a powerful video/audio player: omxplayer that can be triggered at start-up with a simple line: "omxplayer mywav.wav" or "omxplayer mylist.txt". I have been testing them in an installation setup for more than 5 weeks 24/24 7/7 without a single crash, reboot, etc. The new audio out on the more recent Pi are somehow disapointing. But these 5$ USB sound cards are great (for the price!) (tested): https://www.adafruit.com/product/1475. An affordable solution of course.

More recently, I have also used Intel NUC as audio/video media player: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/boards-kits/nuc/kits/nuc5i5ryh.html. More expensive, but much more powerful. You still have to get the RAM and SSD for the NUC, so the budget is increased. Up to 4K video player without problem, super stable the device spent 3 week outdoor without crash. Running with Ubuntu and again omxplayer as media player.

What is great with omxplayer, is that you don't see the OS, and you have simple keyboard control (+/- for volume, arrows for seek, FF, and possibly next in a playlist. Not sure for that one. Other media player are available on Linux. Including mplayer.
http://elinux.org/Omxplayer

Best!
________________________________________
De : cec-con...@googlegroups.com <cec-con...@googlegroups.com> de la part de jef chippewa <j...@newmusicnotation.com>
Envoyé : 24 mai 2017 13:47
À : cec-con...@googlegroups.com
Objet : [cec-c] ideas for media player in exhibition?

thanks,
jef

=====

http://newmusicnotation.com/chippewa
http://www.facebook.com/neueweise

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CEC-Conference" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cec-conferenc...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cec-con...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/cec-conference.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[jef chippewa]

salut PA, merci! tu peux m'envoyer (privately)
une capture d'écran de l'interface pour le
lecteur vidéo du Pi? si je comprends bien, on
pourrait y brancher un souris et un écran, afin
que les visiteurs peuvent changer/sélectionner la
piste au choix?

[Philippe-Aubert Gauthier]

Jef,

J'ai pas de capture parce que omxplayer et mplayer sont en "command line" et il n'y a pas vraiment d'interface. Donc, en fullscreen avec de l'audio uniquement, ça devrait être noir.

Peut-être que ces outils command line ne sont pas adaptés à ces besoins de sélection interactive.

Pour un UI, il y a KODI qui est super :
https://kodi.tv/
https://mintguide.org/uploads/posts/2015-07/1437585566_screenshotmusic1.jpg
Et avec tous les "skins" disponibles, tu peux trouver quelque chose avec une esthétique plus simple. De mémoire, tu dois aussi pouvoir forcer KODI à ne pas montrer d'onglet video, etc. https://mediaexperience.com/awesome-xbmc-skins/

Possible d'ajouter texte, images, etc. Par contre, c'est pas "bullet proof", donc les visiteurs peuvent le quitter ou l'éteindre. Fonctionne pour Linux et Windows, peut-être même Mac.

Testé KODI sur NUC et Pi depuis plusieurs années. Marche très bien. En fait, c'est mon media player de salon.

Aussi possible avec Linux de bypasser l'OS principal pour uniquement rouler KODI.

Bye!

________________________________________
De : cec-con...@googlegroups.com <cec-con...@googlegroups.com> de la part de jef chippewa <j...@newmusicnotation.com>

Envoyé : 24 mai 2017 14:42
À : cec-con...@googlegroups.com
Objet : RE: [cec-c] ideas for media player in exhibition?

http://newmusicnotation.com/chippewa
http://www.facebook.com/neueweise

--

[Dennis Bathory-Kitsz]

On Wed, May 24, 2017 1:47 pm, jef chippewa wrote:
> i am working out how to play them back and wonder
> if maybe someone here has some experience and
> good ideas. the exhibition will run for some
> time in a museum outside berlin (where i live).

A server, private web page, and wireless connection so people can use their
phones? And a small group of phones you can loan for those without them
(phones with jacks, as you can get earbuds cheaply in bulk)?

Dennis

[CEC jef chippewa]

also a cool idea, but then compressed sound because of wireless, right?

the advantage of this over a player is that many
can listen to different things at once. the room
is small and there will be traffic during the
vernissage (so this could avoid "traffic jams" in
accessing the player) but generally i'm not sure
whether this is essential -- i like the idea of
visitors being subjected to someone else's choice
of music. also the tunes could be accessible
independent of the exhibit.

not sure about the phones bit, but could be easy
enough for the museum to find a handful of used
smartphones... and buy some headsets. but also
there we have the question of sound quality.

>A server, private web page, and wireless
>connection so people can use their phones? And a
>small group of phones you can loan for those
>without them (phones with jacks, as you can get
>earbuds cheaply in bulk)?

--
[CALL] eContact! 19.4 Media-Specific Music
http://econtact.ca/call.html#194

Communauté électroacoustique canadienne (CEC)
Canadian Electroacoustic Community
HOME http://cec.sonus.ca \|\ JOURNAL http://econtact.ca
http://FACEBOOK.com/cec.sonus \|\ http://TWITTER.com/cec_ca

[CEC jef chippewa]

ah ok got it, those links were helpful. that
does look like a cool approach (they also produce
a 7-in touchscreen) and i could perhaps find
other uses for it post-exhibit.

aside from the obvious (self-built, not apple...)
what would the advantages be for me over, say, a
media player, in which i could use album titles
to categorize types of miniatures, or make
playlists...?

[Coryn Smethurst]

This was battery powered 44.1KHz/16bit stereo.

http://www.kinokophone.com/projects/#/sound-as-specimen/

crrs

2017-05-24 21:21 GMT+01:00 CEC jef chippewa <j...@econtact.ca>:

ah ok got it, those links were helpful.  that does look like a cool approach (they also produce a 7-in touchscreen) and i could perhaps find other uses for it post-exhibit.

aside from the obvious (self-built, not apple...) what would the advantages be for me over, say, a media player, in which i could use album titles to categorize types of miniatures, or make playlists...?

J'ai pas de capture parce que omxplayer et mplayer sont en "command line" et il n'y a pas vraiment d'interface. Donc, en fullscreen avec de l'audio uniquement, ça devrait être noir.

Peut-être que ces outils command line ne sont pas adaptés à ces besoins de sélection interactive.

Pour un UI, il y a KODI qui est super :
https://kodi.tv/
https://mintguide.org/uploads/posts/2015-07/1437585566_screenshotmusic1.jpg
Et avec tous les "skins" disponibles, tu peux trouver quelque chose avec une esthétique plus simple. De mémoire, tu dois aussi pouvoir forcer KODI à ne pas montrer d'onglet video, etc. https://mediaexperience.com/awesome-xbmc-skins/

Possible d'ajouter texte, images, etc. Par contre, c'est pas "bullet proof", donc les visiteurs peuvent le quitter ou l'éteindre. Fonctionne pour Linux et Windows, peut-être même Mac.

Testé KODI sur NUC et Pi depuis plusieurs années. Marche très bien. En fait, c'est mon media player de salon.

Aussi possible avec Linux de bypasser l'OS principal pour uniquement rouler KODI.

--
[CALL] eContact! 19.4 Media-Specific Music
http://econtact.ca/call.html#194

Communauté électroacoustique canadienne (CEC) Canadian Electroacoustic Community
HOME http://cec.sonus.ca  \|\  JOURNAL http://econtact.ca
http://FACEBOOK.com/cec.sonus  \|\  http://TWITTER.com/cec_ca

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CEC-Conference" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cec-conference+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Dennis Bathory-Kitsz]

On Wed, May 24, 2017 4:26 pm, CEC jef chippewa wrote:
> also a cool idea, but then compressed sound because of wireless, right?

If it's local, maybe not. I have a Plex server at home via wireless to my
Roku, and it plays full-sized video and 24/96 audio with no problems. That's
just one stream, but if you used a lossless codec (like FLAC), it's still
compressed but without audio loss.

I'm not a fan of kiosk-like things and wouldn't want to wait in line or be
elbowing somebody else or have somebody waiting over my shoulder. :)

Dennis

[CEC jef chippewa]

awesome, those look very cool, nicely done boxes!  certain to be a little too involved for the needs of this exhibition, but what are the sound units made of/with?

This was battery powered 44.1KHz/16bit stereo.

http://www.kinokophone.com/projects/#/sound-as-specimen/

[jef chippewa]

> > also a cool idea, but then compressed sound because of wireless, right?
>
>If it's local, maybe not. I have a Plex server
>at home via wireless to my Roku, and it plays
>full-sized video and 24/96 audio with no
>problems. That's just one stream, but if you
>used a lossless codec (like FLAC), it's still
>compressed but without audio loss.

ok, going to keep thinking about this. it would
need to run without me having to do anything,
since i will only be in the town where the museum
is to set it up and for the vernissage. i don't
have the impression the museum people would be
able to problem solve if anything came up.

>I'm not a fan of kiosk-like things and wouldn't
>want to wait in line or be elbowing somebody
>else or have somebody waiting over my shoulder.
>:)

point taken, although the exhibit is in a small
room in a small museum in a small town, so the
degree to which this affects things is probably
also small.

[Jörn Nettingsmeier]

The Kodi media server software (runs on the Raspberry Pi as well) comes
with such a web interface that allows people to use their phone browser
to control it. The only problem I see is that you can keep screwing with
people even if you're no longer in the room, as long as you see the
wifi. So people *will* play pranks on others who are currently
interacting with the exhibit. The touchscreen option looks more robust
in that respect. Do factor in some replacement screens (they are not
vandal-proof, but cheap) so that the client doesn't shed tears later
after the show has been on for some time...




--
Jörn Nettingsmeier
De Rijpgracht 8, 1055VR Amsterdam, Nederland
Tel. +49 177 7937487

Meister für Veranstaltungstechnik (Bühne/Studio), Tonmeister VDT
http://stackingdwarves.net

[Jörn Nettingsmeier]

On 05/25/2017 10:44 AM, jef chippewa wrote:
>
>> > also a cool idea, but then compressed sound because of wireless,
>> right?
>>
>> If it's local, maybe not. I have a Plex server at home via wireless to
>> my Roku, and it plays full-sized video and 24/96 audio with no
>> problems. That's just one stream, but if you used a lossless codec
>> (like FLAC), it's still compressed but without audio loss.
>
> ok, going to keep thinking about this. it would need to run without me
> having to do anything, since i will only be in the town where the museum
> is to set it up and for the vernissage. i don't have the impression the
> museum people would be able to problem solve if anything came up.

if you create a pi-based solution, just leave them a drop-in replacement
(second set of hardware, clone copy of the memory card), costs 50 bucks
on top, so negligible. Teach them how to connect it when the first
machine goes belly-up, and the show goes on.

If you can, leave the Pi connected to a network with an SSH connection
from the outside (needs static non-private IP or appropriate port
forwarding on the router), and you can maintain and debug the little
thing remotely.

[Coryn Smethurst]

I think it was one of these inside - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13660 ...

On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 9:39 AM, CEC jef chippewa <j...@econtact.ca> wrote:

awesome, those look very cool, nicely done boxes!  certain to be a little too involved for the needs of this exhibition, but what are the sound units made of/with?

This was battery powered 44.1KHz/16bit stereo.

http://www.kinokophone.com/projects/#/sound-as-specimen/

-- 

[CALL] eContact! 19.4 Media-Specific Music
http://econtact.ca/call.html#194

Communauté électroacoustique canadienne (CEC) Canadian Electroacoustic Community
HOME http://cec.sonus.ca  \|\  JOURNAL http://econtact.ca
http://FACEBOOK.com/cec.sonus  \|\  http://TWITTER.com/cec_ca

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CEC-Conference" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cec-conference+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to cec-conference@googlegroups.com.

[CEC jef chippewa]

yeah the wireless option is perhaps not the best.

also, i'm thinking the simpler the better, this
is a literature museum, they don't do much
sound-related stuff at all. which is why i'm
thinking a small tablet might be best, at least
that way they will be able to easily reuse it
without having to reconfigure or install
anything. cost-wise the ASUS zen is about the
same as a raspberry and small screen...

not to mention it would be a shame for them to
purchase a small custom-built system just to have
it sit in the storage room after the exhibit.
and while it would be great to learn about it,
i'm also not doing in my own work that would
warrant / justify investing in building /paying
for the system myself.

thanks to all for the tips and suggestions!

on or around 10:42 AM +0200 5/26/17, Jörn Nettingsmeier seems to have said:
>The Kodi media server software (runs on the
>Raspberry Pi as well) comes with such a web
>interface that allows people to use their phone
>browser to control it. The only problem I see is
>that you can keep screwing with people even if
>you're no longer in the room, as long as you see
>the wifi. So people *will* play pranks on others
>who are currently interacting with the exhibit.
>The touchscreen option looks more robust in that
>respect. Do factor in some replacement screens
>(they are not vandal-proof, but cheap) so that
>the client doesn't shed tears later after the
>show has been on for some time...