Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] GNU Radio Companion - ALSA

[Cinaed Simson]

My guess is you have pulse audio installed but it won't let you use the
audio devices because you're not logged into the console on the pi3.

Type

  ps -ef | grep pulse

which should return entries similar to

  /usr/bin/pulseaudio --start --log-target=syslog
  /bin/sh /usr/bin/start-pulseaudio-x11

Note, if pulse-audio is the problem, then you need to log into the
console and change your audio device to 'pulse' before trying it again.

-- Cinaed


On 02/19/2017 12:17 PM, Robin A. Jensen wrote:
> Hello Marcus.
> 
> I've haven't copy  pasted!
> I made it from a tutorial and it will work on Window 10 machine. :-)
> 
> Now i have tried your suggestion and the RuntimeError is till persist.
> But you lost min the part, about moving the resampler in front of WBFM.
> I did it and the Runtime error is still presentet.
> 
> But i'm sure that there is a bug in the debian versin of GNU Radio
> Companion 3.7.5 when using Rationel Resampler.
> It's making no sense. I have understood the concept of Decimating and
> Interpolation.
> I now have done some test with exactly the same simple setup on Windows
> 10 and RPi 3 Jessie.
> On Windows:
> Souce: resample 480 k Waveform: Cosine, Freq: 1k->
> Rationel Resampler: Decimation 480 (= 1000), Interpolation 48 (=48.000) ->
> Audio Sink: Sample Rate: 48k
> 
> It will produce a tone of 1 KHz.
> 
> Doing precise the same on RPi 3:
> RuntimeError: audio_alsa_sink
> Only when Rationel Resampler is set to: Interpolation 48000,
> It will run, but if Decimation is 480 (= 1000 -> 1000 * 48000) it will
> sound like a metronome!
> If i'll set it as it should be: Decimation: 4800 (=1000) and
> Interpolation: 48 (48 * 1000 = 48 KHz)
> It will throw RuntimeError: audio_alsa_sink.
> 
> I've tried many different settings Rationel Resampler and if
> Interpolation is not set to 48000, it will create and RuntimeError.
> 
> If i do the test on windows with:
> Source: sample rate: 48k -> Rationel Resampler: Interpolation: 1,
> Decimation: 1 -> Audio Sink
> It will work and procuce 1KHz tone.
> 
> Doing the same on RPi 3:
> And it throws a RuntimeError.
> If I then change Rationel Resampler: Interpolation 48000
> It will run without RuntimeError and with no sound!
> 
> So i'll think this is not about a copy / paste error.
> All block used in these test, are with the same Types float 32.
> 
> So i'm quit sure that is something wrong with the Rationel Resampler
> block i RPi - Jessie version.
> 
> Best regards
> Robin.
> 
> Den 19-02-2017 kl. 20:39 skrev Marcus Müller:
>> *high five*, got it to work!
>>
>> So, why the rational resampler?! makes no sense, especially since both
>> interpolation and decimation need to be integers; since it doesn't make
>> sense mathematical, is it possible you did something slightly different
>> on Windows?
>>
>> Resamplers are *only* necessary to convert a signal from one sampling
>> rate to another mathematically, without changing the signal's content.
>> The rate change is interpolation/decimation. If your original signal is
>> already at the right sampling rate, adding a resampler in between will
>> only *break* things.
>>
>> The RuntimeError has something to do with how you configure the audio
>> sink. so, you need to use exactly the same config, ie. 2 inputs, hw:0,
>> sampling rate 48000. It doesn't come from having the wrong kind of
>> resampling before that. GNU Radio blocks really don't care at all about
>> what happens upstream. They get a series of numbers they process.
>>
>> There's no reason for multiple resamplers. Please take this as a
>> constructive criticism: You must stop using a copy and paste approach,
>> and go for an understanding-based approach.
>>
>> So let's work from the ends: We know we have an audio sink that we need
>> to run at 48000 as sampling rate, and in the end, we'll need to connect
>> that to a RTL source that gives us 2 MS/s. So in total, from source to
>> sink, we need a resampling ratio of 2e6/48e3. I'll do it the boring way
>> here, by using a prime factorization of both, to figure out how we can
>> group these:
>>
>> 2e6 = 2 · 10⁶ = 2 · (2·5)⁶
>> = 5⁶ · 2⁶
>>
>> 48e3 = 48 · 10³ = 3 · 16 · (2·5)³ = 3 · 2⁴ · 2³ · 5³
>> = 5³ · 3 · 2⁷
>>
>> Let's divide these two numbers so that we know what our overall
>> resampling ratio is:
>>
>> 2e6/48e3 = (5⁶ · 2⁶)/(5³ · 3 · 2⁷) and cancelling out everything that's
>> possible to cancel
>> 5³ / (3 · 2)
>>
>> So what we need is a decimation of 5³ = 125 and an interpolation of 6.
>> Awesome! Let's make that happen.
>>
>> We know that we have at least one block that we need to use between RTL
>> source and Audio sink: the WBFM receive. Let's plug that directly into
>> the Audio Sink. That means we know its output rate, because it *must* be
>> the 48k that said audio sink consumes. Ok, let's see, we need to
>> decimate by 5³ in total, so let's put the "Audio Decimation" to 5 here.
>> That leaves us with still 5² to decimate, and 6 to interpolate. (we also
>> can directly calculate that the *input* of the WBFM receive must be 5 ·
>> 48kS/s = 240 kS/s). And since we have two channels on our audio sink,
>> connect the both Audio sink inputs to the one autput of WBFM receive.
>>
>> Well, then, let's do that: add a rational resampler that has decimation
>> = 25 and interpolation = 6. Connect its output directly to WBFM receive,
>> and its input to the RTL source. Done!
>>
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Marcus
>>
>>
>> On 19.02.2017 19:42, Robin A. Jensen wrote:
>>> Hello again.
>>>
>>> Now i've a little test.
>>> Signal Source: sample rate: 48k, Waveform: Cosine, freq: 1k amplitude:
>>> 1 ->
>>>
>>> Audio Sink: Samp_rate: 48 k, Devicename: hw:0 (with 2 inputs)
>>>
>>> And that is a succes! There a sound.
>>> It will only run with 48k as sample rate.
>>> So now we know there are an output for real. :-)
>>>
>>> But if i put in Rationel Resampler: Interpolation: 1 / 48k,
>>> Decimation: 1 and Source is 48k.
>>> There is no sound..??
>>> No mather how i fidle around with the values.
>>> I've tried with different settings for the Sampler and also Rationel
>>> Resampler Base, with no change regard to the output.
>>> I find it really strange as the Rationel Resampler is working on a
>>> Windows 10.
>>>
>>> I then whent back to my WBFM setup and remove the resampler and run it
>>> direcly from WBFM to Auduo Sink,
>>> and then the RuntimeError came back :-(
>>>
>>> Best regard
>>> Robin.
>>>
>>>
>>> Den 19-02-2017 kl. 18:06 skrev Marcus Müller:
>>>> Hi Robin,
>>>>
>>>> Progress! (and you really don't have to try anything in lower- AND
>>>> uppercase. the names are simply case-sensitive, so use them **exactly**
>>>> like aplay -L lists them. Everything else can't work. There's really no
>>>> magic involved here! Stop googling stuff that you copy and paste.
>>>> You've
>>>> got a discrete problem on *your* machine, and you can solve it, so copy
>>>> and pasting device strings that work on other people's computer's is
>>>> really not that helpful.)
>>>>
>>>>> It returns: check topology failed on on audio_alsa_sink(8) using
>>>>> ninputs=1, noutputs=0
>>>> Now that means you're using a device it can find. so: yeah, we're doing
>>>> something right. I'd really recommend you stick with "pulse", as that
>>>> will make sure of mixing all the audio streams other programs produce
>>>> together with yours and you'll not compete for exclusive access to the
>>>> audio device. It *should* give you at least the same check_topology
>>>> error. Can you please confirm that?
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>>
>>>> Marcus
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 19.02.2017 16:42, Robin A. Jensen wrote:
>>>>> Hey Marcus.
>>>>>
>>>>> Have tried that.
>>>>> In documentation for the block:
>>>>> pulse , hw:0,0 , plughw:0,0 , surround51 , /dev/dsp
>>>>>
>>>>> I've tried every single one of them with lowercase and upper case.
>>>>>
>>>>> If i use: hw:0,0
>>>>> It returns: check topology failed on on audio_alsa_sink(8) using
>>>>> ninputs=1, noutputs=0
>>>>> If I use: HW:0,0
>>>>> It returns: RuntimeError: audio_alsa_sink.
>>>>>
>>>>> I've also tried with: HW:0,1 , HW:1,0 , HW:0.1 , HW:1.0 also in lower
>>>>> case.
>>>>> I've been tried to google with different search terms with no luck.
>>>>> That's why I ended up on this mailing list.
>>>>>
>>>>> GNU Radio is downloaded from rpi Jessie repository with apt-get
>>>>> install gnuradio.
>>>>>
>>>>> Best regards
>>>>> Robin.
>>>>>
>>>>> Den 19-02-2017 kl. 16:25 skrev Marcus Müller:
>>>>>> Hm, that looks like there's no HW in the list, so that would be an
>>>>>> initial debugging success!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So, the easiest is probably if you just use "pulse" in the Device
>>>>>> Name
>>>>>> field.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Marcus
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 19.02.2017 16:15, Robin A. Jensen wrote:
>>>>>>> Yes of course.
>>>>>>> Here we go:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> aplay -L
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> null
>>>>>>>        Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples
>>>>>>> (capture)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> pulse
>>>>>>>        PulseAudio Sound Server
>>>>>>> sysdefault:CARD=ALSA
>>>>>>>        bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
>>>>>>>        Default Audio Device
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> dmix:CARD=ALSA,DEV=0
>>>>>>>        bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
>>>>>>>        Direct sample mixing device
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> dmix:CARD=ALSA,DEV=1
>>>>>>>        bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI
>>>>>>>        Direct sample mixing device
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> dsnoop:CARD=ALSA,DEV=0
>>>>>>>        bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
>>>>>>>        Direct sample snooping device
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> dsnoop:CARD=ALSA,DEV=1
>>>>>>>        bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI
>>>>>>>        Direct sample snooping device
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> hw:CARD=ALSA,DEV=0
>>>>>>>        bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
>>>>>>>        Direct hardware device without any conversions
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> hw:CARD=ALSA,DEV=1
>>>>>>>        bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI
>>>>>>>        Direct hardware device without any conversions
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> plughw:CARD=ALSA,DEV=0
>>>>>>>        bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 ALSA
>>>>>>>        Hardware device with all software conversions
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> plughw:CARD=ALSA,DEV=1
>>>>>>>        bcm2835 ALSA, bcm2835 IEC958/HDMI
>>>>>>>        Hardware device with all software conversions
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If i use @: speaker-test -f 800 -t sinus -r 48000 -c 1-s 1
>>>>>>> I'll get a fine sinus tone.
>>>>>>> So there are sound through the system.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Best regards
>>>>>>> Robin.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Den 19-02-2017 kl. 15:48 skrev Marcus Müller:
>>>>>>>> You're right, we should tackle this more systematically.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> My problem is that I don't have a RPi3 to play around with at hand,
>>>>>>>> so I
>>>>>>>> have to trust you on the "HW:0,0"; it's not a very typical string,
>>>>>>>> through, as most alsa device names are lowercase. Could you share
>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> output of "aplay -L" with us?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>>>>> Marcus
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 19.02.2017 15:16, Robin A. Jensen wrote:
>>>>>>>>> Hello Marcus.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Thanks for your reply and your welcomming to the community.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I've made the changes as suggested.
>>>>>>>>> Also i've made a setup on a Windows 10 machine, to ensure the
>>>>>>>>> script
>>>>>>>>> runs.
>>>>>>>>> With the changes the sound is much better! :-)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> But when i run the same setup on RPi 3 / Jessie-distro i've end up
>>>>>>>>> with the same result, no matter what I do with the Audio sink.
>>>>>>>>> I'm using Gnu Radio Companion 3.7.5
>>>>>>>>> The error code is still:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> ALSA libpcm.c2239:)snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM HW:0,0
>>>>>>>>> <-- 10
>>>>>>>>> times this line
>>>>>>>>> gr::log :ERROR: audio_alsa_sink0 - [HW:0,0]: No such file or
>>>>>>>>> directory.
>>>>>>>>> File "/home/pi/radio/top_block.py", line133, in <module>
>>>>>>>>>      tb= top_block()
>>>>>>>>> File "/home/pi/radio/top_block.py", line82, in __init__
>>>>>>>>> self.audio_sink_0 = audio.sink(48000, "HW:0,0", True)
>>>>>>>>> File
>>>>>>>>> "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/audio/audio_swig.py",
>>>>>>>>> line 195, in make
>>>>>>>>> return _ausio_swig.sink_make(*args, **kwargs)
>>>>>>>>> RuntimeError: audio_alsa_sink
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I know is alwayes is eassy to blame the software, but could it
>>>>>>>>> be a
>>>>>>>>> bug?
>>>>>>>>> As i said. i've tried with all the suggested lines from
>>>>>>>>> documentation
>>>>>>>>> of the block.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Best regards
>>>>>>>>> Robin.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Den 18-02-2017 kl. 18:17 skrev Marcus Müller:
>>>>>>>>>> Hi Robin,
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> first of all: Welcome to the GNU Radio community!
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On 02/18/2017 05:29 PM, Robin A. Jensen wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> Hello all of you.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I've just recieved my RTL-SDR dongle and is all new to this
>>>>>>>>>>> sdr-stuff,
>>>>>>>>>>> so please bear over with me, if i'm at the wrong place.
>>>>>>>>>>> I'm using GNU Radio Companion on a RPi 3 and no mather what i'll
>>>>>>>>>>> do, i
>>>>>>>>>>> can't get the sound to work.
>>>>>>>>>>> If a'im using rtl_fm and aplay, i'll get sound but it won't
>>>>>>>>>>> set on
>>>>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>>>> radiostation.
>>>>>>>>>> aha, so that's good, the sound system as it does work.
>>>>>>>>>> You'll probably want to use "aplay -L" to find the possible ALSA
>>>>>>>>>> device
>>>>>>>>>> names that you can use in the GNU Radio Audio sink.
>>>>>>>>>>> I'll take on that later.
>>>>>>>>>>> I've createt a small FM Reciever in GNU Radio companion and
>>>>>>>>>>> everytime
>>>>>>>>>>> i'll execute the script i'll get an error:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> RuntimeError.audio.alsa.sink
>>>>>>>>>> Hm, I've never seen a GNU Radio error being printed like this;
>>>>>>>>>> but
>>>>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>>>> might just be me. However, I can't reproduce this error printing
>>>>>>>>>> shape
>>>>>>>>>> as hard as I try.
>>>>>>>>>>> I've been all over the internet to find a solution but with no
>>>>>>>>>>> luck.
>>>>>>>>>>> So now i'm have a hope that this mailling list can help me?
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> My suspicion is that your audio device doesn't like the sampling
>>>>>>>>>> rate
>>>>>>>>>> your trying to use, or you need to specify a device name (or
>>>>>>>>>> both).
>>>>>>>>>> Can
>>>>>>>>>> you make things work on the PC you use to design these flow
>>>>>>>>>> graphs?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I'd start with a signal source (sampling rate == the sampling
>>>>>>>>>> rate
>>>>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>>>> you set in your Audio sink), configured to produce a "float"
>>>>>>>>>> output
>>>>>>>>>> sine
>>>>>>>>>> of 1 kHz, directly connected to an Audio sink. If that works,
>>>>>>>>>> move on.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> What I say about the flow graph in the following has, as far as I
>>>>>>>>>> can
>>>>>>>>>> tell, nothing to do with the error you're getting. Still, there's
>>>>>>>>>> mistakes in the flow graph that would make it impossible to
>>>>>>>>>> successfully
>>>>>>>>>> run it, and thus I'd like to avoid frustration later on by
>>>>>>>>>> pointing
>>>>>>>>>> them
>>>>>>>>>> out know:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> So, the main issue with your flow graph is that the sampling rate
>>>>>>>>>> at the
>>>>>>>>>> audio sink must be what you configured your audio sink for (48
>>>>>>>>>> kHz).
>>>>>>>>>> But: that rate is the result of your SDR's sampling rate (2MS/s),
>>>>>>>>>> multiplied with all interpolations, divided by all decimations in
>>>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>>> path between.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> My setup is:
>>>>>>>>>>> RTL-SDR Source: samplerate:  2M, frequency 96.5 MHz ->
>>>>>>>>>>> Rationel Sampler: Interpolation 4, Decimation: 1 ->
>>>>>>>>>> Uh, that means that you have now 8MS/s. That seems unnecessary,
>>>>>>>>>> since to
>>>>>>>>>> capture a <100 kHz wide FM channel, you wouldn't even need the
>>>>>>>>>> 2MS/s
>>>>>>>>>> you get
>>>>>>>>>>> Low Pass Filter: Sample rate: 2M, Cutoff freq: 100K, Transition
>>>>>>>>>>> Width:
>>>>>>>>>>> 100k ->
>>>>>>>>>> Which contradicts the 2MS/s used here, so you're actually getting
>>>>>>>>>> 400kHz
>>>>>>>>>> passband width, 400kHz transition width. Also, this feels like a
>>>>>>>>>> prime
>>>>>>>>>> candidate for including decimation in the filter (because the
>>>>>>>>>> resulting
>>>>>>>>>> bandwidth is 200 kHz (if you overlap the two transition widths),
>>>>>>>>>> and for
>>>>>>>>>> that you'd only need 200 kS/s of complex digital signal).
>>>>>>>>>>> WBFM Recive: Quadrature: 500K, Audio Decimation: 1 ->
>>>>>>>>>> This is now off by a factor of 16; are you sure you should be
>>>>>>>>>> using
>>>>>>>>>> "interpolation=4,decimation=1" instead of the inverse?
>>>>>>>>>>> Rationel Sampler: Interpolation: 500
>>>>>>>>>> Certainly not :) 8 MS/s · 500 = 4 GS/s
>>>>>>>>>>> Decimation: 48
>>>>>>>>>> Aside from that not even having greatest common denominator of 1
>>>>>>>>>> with
>>>>>>>>>> 500 (you can't know that this is important, not blaming you),
>>>>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>>>>> would
>>>>>>>>>> give you an output sampling rate of 4GS/s/48 = 1 GS/s / 12 =
>>>>>>>>>> 83.333
>>>>>>>>>> MS/s. Which isn't even a multiple of 48 kHz, which you use in the
>>>>>>>>>> audio
>>>>>>>>>> sink:
>>>>>>>>>>> ->
>>>>>>>>>>> Audio Sink: Sample Rate: 48 KHz, Device Name: HW:0,0
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I've found that recipie on a Hack5 video and there it's working
>>>>>>>>>> I think there's some error in the way you configured these
>>>>>>>>>> resamplers. I
>>>>>>>>>> don't know the Video you're referring to, but the amount of
>>>>>>>>>> rational
>>>>>>>>>> resamplers used here alone, paired with the fact that you don't
>>>>>>>>>> decimate
>>>>>>>>>> in the WBFM receiver makes me kind of suspicious this might not
>>>>>>>>>> have
>>>>>>>>>> been the optimal video to take reference designs from!
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>>>>>>> Marcus
>>>>>>>>>>> With best regards
>>>>>>>>>>> Robin.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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