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New wheezy and problems setting up alsa for mpd

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Sharon Kimble

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Jan 8, 2013, 9:20:02 AM1/8/13
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This is a new computer, bought yesterday, and a new install of wheezy with the beta4-d-i. The sound card is a 'High Definition Audio, 5.1 channel' aka '00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI BeaverCreek HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6500D and 6400G-6600G series]


The relevant section of my mpd.conf for alsa is ;-
audio_output {
        type            "alsa"
        name            "MPD ALSA"
        mixer_type      "software"
        mixer_device    "default"
        mixer_control   "PCM"
}

and this gives the following output when mpd is restarted and run ;-
Jan 08 13:46 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing "Ave Maria - Sacred Arias and Choruses/02 Various - Stölzel (attr. Bach) - Bist du bei mir.mp3"
ALSA lib pulse.c:243:(pulse_connect) PulseAudio: Unable to connect: Connection refused

Jan 08 13:46 : output: Failed to open "MPD ALSA" [alsa]: Failed to open ALSA device "default": Connection refused

I am using 'ncmpcpp' as my client which has worked well in the past, but this time alsa isn't cooperating and it plain doesn't work!

Can anyone help me in getting my mpd/ncmpcpp to work with alsa please?

Thank you
Sharon.
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A taste of linux = http://www.sharons.org.uk/taste/index.html
efever = http://www.efever.blogspot.com/
efever = http://sharon04.livejournal.com/
Debian Wheezy, LXDE 2 LibreOffice 3.5.4.2
Registered Linux user 334501



Chris Bannister

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Jan 8, 2013, 10:30:02 AM1/8/13
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On Tue, Jan 08, 2013 at 02:16:07PM +0000, Sharon Kimble wrote:
> Jan 08 13:46 : output: Failed to open "MPD ALSA" [alsa]: Failed to open
> ALSA device "default": Connection refused
> Jan 08 13:46 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing "
> http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_lc1_radio4extra_p?s=1357642801&e=1357657201&h=88c04b2945d4c29c3f3cb0b2e095ea50
> "
>
> I am using 'ncmpcpp' as my client which has worked well in the past, but
> this time alsa isn't cooperating and it plain doesn't work!
>
> Can anyone help me in getting my mpd/ncmpcpp to work with alsa please?

Can you play a local file, OK? I mean like
"aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav"
"aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Right.wav"

--
"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people
who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the
oppressing." --- Malcolm X


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Sharon Kimble

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Jan 8, 2013, 1:10:01 PM1/8/13
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Thanks for this, but "Yes" to both. I do have sound, I've just watched a video in 'Movie Player' with good sound, its just it doesn't seem to happen in mpd/ncmpcpp, and I really miss my steaming radio on mpd. :(

Thanks
Sharon.

[Sent it to Chris only by mistake, so rectified here! :)


On 8 January 2013 16:16, Sharon Kimble <skim...@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks for this, but "Yes" to both. I do have sound, I've just watched a video in 'Movie Player' with good sound, its just it doesn't seem to happen in mpd/ncmpcpp, and I really miss my steaming radio on mpd. :(

Thanks
Sharon.
--
A taste of linux = http://www.sharons.org.uk/taste/index.html
efever = http://www.efever.blogspot.com/
efever = http://sharon04.livejournal.com/
Debian Wheezy, LXDE 2 LibreOffice 3.5.4.2
Registered Linux user 334501



Chris Bannister

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Jan 8, 2013, 10:30:01 PM1/8/13
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[Please don't top post: http://catb.org/jargon/html/T/top-post.html]
[ fixed up as best I could.]
On Tue, Jan 08, 2013 at 06:02:39PM +0000, Sharon Kimble wrote:
> > On 8 January 2013 15:06, Chris Bannister <cbann...@slingshot.co.nz>wrote:
> >> On Tue, Jan 08, 2013 at 02:16:07PM +0000, Sharon Kimble wrote:
> >> > Jan 08 13:46 : output: Failed to open "MPD ALSA" [alsa]: Failed to open
> >> > ALSA device "default": Connection refused
> >> > Jan 08 13:46 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while
> >> playing "
> >> >
> >> http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_lc1_radio4extra_p?s=1357642801&e=1357657201&h=88c04b2945d4c29c3f3cb0b2e095ea50
> >> > "
> >> >
> >> > I am using 'ncmpcpp' as my client which has worked well in the past, but
> >> > this time alsa isn't cooperating and it plain doesn't work!
> >> >
> >> > Can anyone help me in getting my mpd/ncmpcpp to work with alsa please?
> >>
> >> Can you play a local file, OK? I mean like
> >> "aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav"
> >> "aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Right.wav"
>
> Thanks for this, but "Yes" to both. I do have sound, I've just watched
> a
> video in 'Movie Player' with good sound, its just it doesn't seem to
> happen
> in mpd/ncmpcpp, and I really miss my steaming radio on mpd. :(
^^^^^^^^ :)

As I have no experience with mpd (yet) I don't know what may be causing
this, but ...

* Can you play local files with mpd/ncmpcpp?
* Can you play streaming radio on mpd from another url?
* Is it only the mpd/ncmpcpp combination, IOW, what about trying another
client.

I put into Google:

mpd streaming radio "permission denied"

and got back quite a few hits - maybe one of those will help?
Web Results 1 - 10 of about 26,000 for mpd streaming radio "permission denied". (0.35 seconds)

P.S. Probably not a good idea to use 'steaming radio' as a search term. :-D

--
"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people
who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the
oppressing." --- Malcolm X


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Sharon Kimble

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Jan 9, 2013, 7:20:01 AM1/9/13
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No 
* Can you play streaming radio on mpd from another url?
No 
* Is it only the mpd/ncmpcpp combination, IOW, what about trying another
  client.
As the client is only the front-end for mpd, and mpd itself isn't working then no other client works, and I've tried several. 
I've also done this ;-
cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [Generic        ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xfeb44000 irq 43
 1 [Generic_1      ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
                      HD-Audio Generic at 0xfeb40000 irq 16

This is from the mpd log ;-
ALSA lib pcm.c:2217:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM Generic_1
Jan 09 12:05 : output: Failed to open "MPD ALSA" [alsa]: Failed to open ALSA device "Generic_1": No such file or directory
Jan 09 12:05 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing "Ave Maria - Sacred Arias and Choruses/01 Various - Bach - Jesu bleibet meine Freude.mp3"

Which leads me to think that mpd isn't finding the sound card, but I don't know how else to enter it. I've tried various permutations of 0, 1, Generic, and Generic_1 but it still refuses to play. After each change of the mpd config I'm doing a 'service mpd restart' but it is not playing ball and working.

I've even tried this, from the mpd.config;-
audio_output {
        type            "alsa"
        name            "MPD ALSA"
#device "Generic_1"
        mixer_type      "software"
        mixer_device    "default"
        mixer_control   "PCM"
}
In the hope that it would load the default sound card, but it didn't work.

I put into Google:

mpd streaming radio "permission denied"

and got back quite a few hits - maybe one of those will help?
Web Results 1 - 10 of about 26,000 for mpd streaming radio "permission denied". (0.35 seconds)

Ah well, back to googling then, thanks anyway.
 
P.S. Probably not a good idea to use 'steaming radio' as a search term. :-D

But it raised a chuckle though :)

Thanks
Sharon. 
--
"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people
who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the
oppressing." --- Malcolm X


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Pertti Kosunen

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Jan 9, 2013, 7:50:01 AM1/9/13
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On 8.1.2013 16:16, Sharon Kimble wrote:
> ALSA lib pulse.c:243:(pulse_connect) PulseAudio: Unable to connect:
> Connection refused

Is user in audio group? Have you tried pulse output?

> Jan 08 13:46 : output: Failed to open "MPD ALSA" [alsa]: Failed to open
> ALSA device "default": Connection refused
> Jan 08 13:46 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while
> playing
> "http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/bbcmedia_lc1_radio4extra_p?s=1357642801&e=1357657201&h=88c04b2945d4c29c3f3cb0b2e095ea50"

Is curl input plugin enabled?


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Chris Bannister

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Jan 9, 2013, 8:00:02 AM1/9/13
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On Wed, Jan 09, 2013 at 12:14:42PM +0000, Sharon Kimble wrote:
> On 9 January 2013 03:07, Chris Bannister <cbann...@slingshot.co.nz> wrote:
> > As I have no experience with mpd (yet) I don't know what may be causing
> > this, but ...
> >
> > * Can you play local files with mpd/ncmpcpp?
> >
> No
>
> > * Can you play streaming radio on mpd from another url?
> >
> No
>
> > * Is it only the mpd/ncmpcpp combination, IOW, what about trying another
> > client.
> >
> As the client is only the front-end for mpd, and mpd itself isn't
> working then no other client works, and I've tried several.
> I've also done this ;-
> cat /proc/asound/cards
> 0 [Generic ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
> HD-Audio Generic at 0xfeb44000 irq 43
> 1 [Generic_1 ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
> HD-Audio Generic at 0xfeb40000 irq 16

What about:

aplay -l


> This is from the mpd log ;-
> ALSA lib pcm.c:2217:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM Generic_1
> Jan 09 12:05 : output: Failed to open "MPD ALSA" [alsa]: Failed to open
> ALSA device "Generic_1": No such file or directory
> Jan 09 12:05 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing
> "Ave Maria - Sacred Arias and Choruses/01 Various - Bach - Jesu bleibet
> meine Freude.mp3"

Googling:

mpd 2 sound cards
Web Results 1 - 10 of about 122,000 for mpd 2 sound cards. (0.35 seconds)

In particular, this post looks interesting.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=102677

> Which leads me to think that mpd isn't finding the sound card, but I don't
> know how else to enter it.

Let's hope its in one of those google posts, the other people who use
mpd are keeping suspiciously quiet. hint, hint hint :)

--
"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people
who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the
oppressing." --- Malcolm X


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Sharon Kimble

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Jan 9, 2013, 9:30:01 AM1/9/13
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On 9 January 2013 12:36, Chris Bannister <cbann...@slingshot.co.nz> wrote:
On Wed, Jan 09, 2013 at 12:14:42PM +0000, Sharon Kimble wrote:
> On 9 January 2013 03:07, Chris Bannister <cbann...@slingshot.co.nz> wrote:
> > As I have no experience with mpd (yet) I don't know what may be causing
> > this, but ...
> >
> > * Can you play local files with mpd/ncmpcpp?
> >
> No
>
> > * Can you play streaming radio on mpd from another url?
> >
> No
>
> > * Is it only the mpd/ncmpcpp combination, IOW, what about trying another
> >   client.
> >
> As the client is only the front-end for mpd, and mpd itself isn't
> working then no other client works, and I've tried several.
> I've also done this ;-
> cat /proc/asound/cards
>  0 [Generic        ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
>                       HD-Audio Generic at 0xfeb44000 irq 43
>  1 [Generic_1      ]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
>                       HD-Audio Generic at 0xfeb40000 irq 16

What about:

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
 
And 'alsamixer' shows that card 1, the ALC662 is the default card. 

Accordingly this is now my .asoundrc
pcm.mpd {
  type hw
  card 1 
}

 

> This is from the mpd log ;-
> ALSA lib pcm.c:2217:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM Generic_1
> Jan 09 12:05 : output: Failed to open "MPD ALSA" [alsa]: Failed to open
> ALSA device "Generic_1": No such file or directory
> Jan 09 12:05 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing
> "Ave Maria - Sacred Arias and Choruses/01 Various - Bach - Jesu bleibet
> meine Freude.mp3"

Googling:

mpd 2 sound cards
Web Results 1 - 10 of about 122,000 for mpd 2 sound cards. (0.35 seconds)

In particular, this post looks interesting.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=102677

> Which leads me to think that mpd isn't finding the sound card, but I don't
> know how else to enter it.

Let's hope its in one of those google posts, the other people who use
mpd are keeping suspiciously quiet. hint, hint hint :)

User is in these groups 'boztu cdrom floppy audio dip video plugdev scanner bluetooth netdev ' so no problem there then. 

This page seems most useful as they have the same cards as me http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1885433

And this is now my asound.conf ;=
pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm "hw:1,0" #delete the first hash for sound over analog
#    pcm "hw:1,1" #delete the first hash for sound over optical
#    pcm "hw:0,3" #delete the first hash for sound over hdmi
    rate 48000
  }
}

speaker-test

speaker-test 1.0.25

Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Playback open error: -16,Device or resource busy

but thats because I'm listening to BBC Radio 4 Extra on qmmp.

I've now rebooted and still get no sound from mpd

cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.

 lspci | egrep -i audio 
00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI BeaverCreek HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6500D and 6400G-6600G series]
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller (rev 01)

Running 'alsamixer' as root shows that the default sound card is HD-audio generic, Chip ATI R6xx HDMI Item S/PDIF and a value of 0. 

root@London:/home/boztu# arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 2: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Theres a lot of information there, I've tried to include everything that may be useful in the hope that someone can tell me what to do, as I'm totally at a loss!

Thank you
Sharon.

Sharon Kimble

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Jan 9, 2013, 9:40:01 AM1/9/13
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12:43 (1 hour ago)
to Debian
On 8.1.2013 16:16, Sharon Kimble wrote:
ALSA lib pulse.c:243:(pulse_connect) PulseAudio: Unable to connect:
Connection refused

Is user in audio group? Have you tried pulse output?

Yes, and yes, no problem with pulse output.


Jan 08 13:46 : output: Failed to open "MPD ALSA" [alsa]: Failed to open
ALSA device "default": Connection refused
Is curl input plugin enabled?

I've done a 'apt-cache search mpd plugins' which showed nothing relating to mpd and plugins, so I cant really answer this. How can I tell please?

Thanks
Sharon.

Pertti Kosunen

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Jan 9, 2013, 1:00:02 PM1/9/13
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On 9.1.2013 16:37, Sharon Kimble wrote:
> I've done a 'apt-cache search mpd plugins' which showed nothing relating
> to mpd and plugins, so I cant really answer this. How can I tell please?

/etc/mpd.conf:
input {
plugin "curl"
}

You should fix the other error first.

# View output devices:
aplay -L

...
hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0
HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0
HDMI Audio Output
...

/etc/mpd.conf:
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "AMD HDMI Output"
device "hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0"
...
}

Try putting "aplay -L" listed device in mpd.conf.


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Sharon Kimble

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Jan 9, 2013, 1:40:01 PM1/9/13
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On 9 January 2013 17:48, Pertti Kosunen <pertti....@pp.nic.fi> wrote:
On 9.1.2013 16:37, Sharon Kimble wrote:
I've done a 'apt-cache search mpd plugins' which showed nothing relating
to mpd and plugins, so I cant really answer this. How can I tell please?

/etc/mpd.conf:
input {
        plugin "curl"
}

This is already in the default conf, so I've just left it alone. 

You should fix the other error first.

# View output devices:
aplay -L

...
hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0
    HDA ATI HDMI, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
...

/etc/mpd.conf:
audio_output {
        type            "alsa"
        name            "AMD HDMI Output"
        device          "hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0"
...
}

.mpd/mpd.conf 
audio_output {
type            "alsa"
        name            "AMD HDMI Output"
        device          "hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0"
# format "44100:16:2" optional
# mixer_device "default" optional
# mixer_control "PCM" optional
# mixer_index "0" optional
}

root@London:/home/boztu# service mpd restart
[ ok ] Stopping Music Player Daemon: mpd.
[ ok ] Starting Music Player Daemon: mpd.

When I start 'ncmpcpp' it starts up okay and shows 'AMD HDMI Output' in its "Outputs" screen, but also shows "Volume: n/a" and it cant be adjusted. When I try to play some music from it, or a radio stream, nothing happens and the arrow showing its music position does not move, it just shows static. There is no sound output as well. 

Try putting "aplay -L" listed device in mpd.conf.

I've done nothing with this, I've been trying the above first.

Thanks for this
Sharon.  
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Sharon Kimble

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Jan 9, 2013, 2:00:02 PM1/9/13
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 Jan 09 18:17 : output: Failed to open "AMD HDMI Output" [alsa]: Failed to open ALSA device "hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0": No such device
Jan 09 18:17 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing "Ave Maria - Sacred Arias and Choruses/01 Various - Bach - Jesu bleibet meine Freude.mp3"
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card 'HDMI'
ALSA lib conf.c:4241:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such device
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4241:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such device
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4241:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such device
ALSA lib conf.c:4720:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such device
ALSA lib pcm.c:2217:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0
Jan 09 18:17 : output: Failed to open "AMD HDMI Output" [alsa]: Failed to open ALSA device "hdmi:CARD=HDMI,DEV=0": No such device
Jan 09 18:17 : player_thread: problems opening audio device while playing "Ave Maria - Sacred Arias and Choruses/02 Various - Stölzel (attr. Bach) - Bist du bei mir.mp3"

That's the most recent postings of the mpd.log I hope its useful.

Thanks
Sharon.

Sharon Kimble

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Jan 9, 2013, 10:20:01 PM1/9/13
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After working with a friend of mine tonight, mpd has started working, so I'll document everything that was done for the archives.

#/etc/asound.conf
pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm "hw:1,0" #delete the first hash for sound over analog
#    pcm "hw:1,1" #delete the first hash for sound over optical
#    pcm "hw:0,3" #delete the first hash for sound over hdmi
    rate 48000
  }
}

aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Generic [HD-Audio Generic], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

.asoundrc
pcm.mpd {
  type hw
  card 1 
}

the ALSA output in the mpd.conf
audio_output {
        type            "alsa"
  name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:1,0"
#        mixer_type      "software"
#        mixer_device    "default"
#        mixer_control   "PCM"
}

And now its all working, apart from the lack of volume control in the client, but I can live with that.

Thank you to everybody who suggested solutions.
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