Really basic question about endpoints

Volumio Information

Volumio Version: 2.861
Hardware: Raspberry Pi 4B
DAC: iqAudio DigiAmp Pro

Hi

So apologies in advance. I am new to Volumio and have a very basic question that I cannot seem to find the answer for (trust me, I have looked!). So I have 4 or 5 Pi devices scattered around the house, and am looking to set Volumio up, but if I want to use each as an endpoint, do I need to install Volumio on each one?

And if not, how do I share from my Volumio ‘base unit’ (i.e. the Pi I have initially set up Volumio on, and attached my drive to containing my music library) to the others?

There, I‘ve said it - told you it was really basic! Thanks for any help on this :+1: :facepunch:

Each Pi device will need to have Volumio installed on its SD card, and will be able to operate independently. Each one will have a UI, controls, its own music database, the works.

The Volumio UI does have a sidebar with some ability to control what’s happening on other Volumio machines on the same local network, so you will be able to make any of your machines play/pause or adjust volume. You can then also change the UI target, so that you take full control of one of the other machines.

Obviously in order for this to work you will need your music library to be network accessible. This means either using one of the Volumio machines as the “master” which is physically plugged into the drive and exposes the library to the other nodes, or that you have a NAS setup which all the machines talk to to access the music.

I hope this helps to clear things up.

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Hi mcewan71,

You could also use the snapcast plugin for multiroom casting (though it is a bit tricky).
Read the instructions on the github project site. https://github.com/Saiyato/volumio-snapcast-plugin

br
Josef

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Hi @timothyjward and @Josh2000,

Thanks for your help in this - this was what I thought, so just needed it confirmed! Grateful for your time and replies :grinning:

Sorry - just looking more at this. I am the most basic of Pi users and the thought of SSH is a bit much for me. Would like to say I have the skills to set up Snapcast but realistically I just don’t.

@timothyjward - I noticed in another thread you mentioned multiroom out of the box is in the works as a premium feature - presumably in Superstar. As I would be happy to pay to compensate for my lack of expertise (haha), do you by any chance know of the ETA for this?? Thanks :pray:

I don’t know exactly when I’m afraid, but it should be relatively soon, especially if you’re happy to try out pre-release images.

@volumio may have a target date in mind, but equally may be thinking “when it’s ready”.

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Thanks :pray: :grinning:

Sorry to resurrect this question yet again, but for the sake of clarification @timothyjward @volumio, could I please just check: if I haven’t set up a network share, would l be able using one of the subscriptions to access my external hard drive containing files at any one of two or three additional endpoints from my ‘in charge’ node which has the drive attached?

Asking because I am a Pi novice and samba shares, SSH and the like are a bit intimidating! Not impossible to learn, but if there’s an easier way…!

You don’t need a NAS if you don’t want one.

First Set up your “primary” instance with a physical connection to the drive. Ideally this will be the fastest Pi you own, and have an Ethernet connection rather than just WiFi. It’s not essential that this be the case, but the Pi you choose will be acting as your media server and your experience will be better if if can serve data quickly.

When you set up the next instance you can go to the sources menu and you should see the primary pop up as a network share. Click on it and you should have the option to select a share

Note that if the choice ends up being between a fast Pi and WiFi or a slow one with wired network then the network is probably the most important factor. I say probably because the original Pi and the Pi Zero share their network and USB bandwidth, making any Pi 2 or above a better choice, even with WiFi. Once you are talking about a Pi 2 or above though, wired network will make the biggest difference.

Thanks @timothyjward for this. I actually had set this up exactly as you describe already. For some reason I am not getting this pop up, but I had already set up both my main and secondary nodes. I have logged off each in turn, logged back on and tried again - I am only getting the network share option. I even upgraded to Superstar to see if I needed that (I vaguely had recalled seeing that option as you had screenshot when I tried the free trial some time ago).

I will try again in the next few days and submit a ticket for support if no joy. Thanks again for your help :grinning:

For some reason I am not getting this pop up, but I had already set up both my main and secondary nodes.

The nodes must both be on the same local network and able to discover each other. You can check this by seeing whether the Audio Outputs and Zones (bottom right of the main UI screen, looks like a speaker) lists your two instances. If they are then the other important thing is to wait a minute or two on the sources screen after clicking “Add New Drive” - this will give them time to be found and populate.

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Thanks Tim :pray: