Scottmichaelj Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 Not currently. I'm using concatenations of built in phrases that Elk supports. It works for the most part. I recently installed an ELK system (thanks Scottmichaelj!), which replaced the Raspberry Pi/AMP+ solution that I've been using. I only have one in-wall speaker, so I disconnected the Pi/AMP+ and have the ELK connected. This way I get all ELK announcements/prompts/etc directly. In terms of crispness, the ELK lady sounds like she's chewing on cotton balls when she speaks (compared to the WAV files I've been using on the Pi/AMP+). I've tried both the ELK-73 Echo and ELK-SP12F Flush Mount speakers, and there wasn't any real difference in quality. Been considering adding the ELK components that let you use your own WAV files, but seems kind of spendy for what you get. Oh well. lol I am going to do some research and see if there's a way we can have any files played through the Elk speaker. Essentially its a speaker so the files should play. Ill post my findings.
Bill Morrow Posted August 22, 2017 Author Posted August 22, 2017 Julie died, OK she's been dead quite some time. There's just been too many real world things going on to go over her corpse. The LED on the Pi comes on and stays red. My first thought was the SD card of course, but it seems OK when I check it on the PC. My next thought was the HiFi Berry, but removing it gives the same result with the standalone Raspberry Pi. I guess I'll install a fresh SD card and OS in the Pi and see what happens; otherwise I guess the Pi is dead. Anyone else experience the HiFi Berry being a Pi killer? Any other bright ideas on where to look? Thanks
Bill Morrow Posted August 22, 2017 Author Posted August 22, 2017 Julie died, OK she's been dead quite some time. There's just been too many real world things going on to go over her corpse. The LED on the Pi comes on and stays red. My first thought was the SD card of course, but it seems OK when I check it on the PC. My next thought was the HiFi Berry, but removing it gives the same result with the standalone Raspberry Pi. I guess I'll install a fresh SD card and OS in the Pi and see what happens; otherwise I guess the Pi is dead. Anyone else experience the HiFi Berry being a Pi killer? Any other bright ideas on where to look? Thanks Looks like the SD card is corrupt and the Pi is dead. I put the card in another Pi and it complained about the SD card being corrupt on boot. So I reformatted the drive (more than once) and restored the contents from a backup. The new Pi will now boot, but complains, as the HiFi Berry is missing I assume. The old Pi will not boot with the resurrected memory card. I'll attach the new Pi to the HiFi Berry and see what happens.
Teken Posted August 22, 2017 Posted August 22, 2017 Hello Bill, When you apply power to the Pi does the unit show any indicator lights?
Bill Morrow Posted August 22, 2017 Author Posted August 22, 2017 Hello Bill, When you apply power to the Pi does the unit show any indicator lights? I get a solid red LED and NO screen activity.
Teken Posted August 22, 2017 Posted August 22, 2017 I get a solid red LED and NO screen activity. Do you so happen to have another PSU? Also, the test you performed was with out the Hi-Fi Berry attached, correct?
Bill Morrow Posted August 22, 2017 Author Posted August 22, 2017 Do you so happen to have another PSU? Also, the test you performed was with out the Hi-Fi Berry attached, correct? I tested the dead Pi and the good Pi with the same PSU. Yep the HFB was removed for the last test. I have many other PSUs, both Pi and HFB in my junk collection.
Bill Morrow Posted August 22, 2017 Author Posted August 22, 2017 Do you so happen to have another PSU? Also, the test you performed was with out the Hi-Fi Berry attached, correct? OK, so I attached the new Pi to the HFB and it still won't boot. I get a solid red LED and a solid green LED, but no screen activity. I guess I'll try a different PSU, but it does not look good for the HFB.
Teken Posted August 22, 2017 Posted August 22, 2017 OK, so I attached the new Pi to the HFB and it still won't boot. I get a solid red LED and a solid green LED, but no screen activity. I guess I'll try a different PSU, but it does not look good for the HFB. Very sorry to hear this. On a related tangent if you're interested I've purchased a new RPi audio board in hopes of replicating what many of you have done with the HFB. Please message me if you're interested in a link to the product.
Teken Posted August 23, 2017 Posted August 23, 2017 Has anyone experienced where the system will begin to announce the incorrect voice NR. Then, catch itself and begin playing the correct NR file? This has been happening for awhile and I have no clue why this is. For what ever reason it seems to be isolated to specific NR's yet other voice announcements never have this apparent overlap when called to duty?
Bill Morrow Posted September 3, 2017 Author Posted September 3, 2017 Very sorry to hear this. On a related tangent if you're interested I've purchased a new RPi audio board in hopes of replicating what many of you have done with the HFB. Please message me if you're interested in a link to the product. Thanks, looks like SD card is toast, PI is toast (mmm Raspberry Toast ), and possibly the HFB. It might be an issue with the cord to the PSU or the extension cord although the Unraid box on the same cord does not seem to have any issues. The new HFB arrived, so I'm putting Humpty back together.
ELA Posted September 3, 2017 Posted September 3, 2017 Has anyone experienced where the system will begin to announce the incorrect voice NR. Then, catch itself and begin playing the correct NR file? This has been happening for awhile and I have no clue why this is. For what ever reason it seems to be isolated to specific NR's yet other voice announcements never have this apparent overlap when called to duty? Hi Teken, Are the problem announcements triggered by RF only devices by any chance? I had one that started to play for 1 sec, stopped and then started the same announcement again due to dupicate RF only device sends. Had to add a delay there.
TheFallenAngel Posted September 3, 2017 Posted September 3, 2017 Hey All, has anyone tried Pi Zero W + HiFiBerry Amp for Zero combo for the announcers? It's cheaper, smaller and enough power for announcements.. Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk
Teken Posted September 3, 2017 Posted September 3, 2017 (edited) Hi Teken, Are the problem announcements triggered by RF only devices by any chance? I had one that started to play for 1 sec, stopped and then started the same announcement again due to dupicate RF only device sends. Had to add a delay there. I initially thought that was the root cause. But these NR's were related to temperature for the 1 Wire network. Like you I played with adding a few seconds of wait in the program to solve that issue. Right now I'm monitoring this condition to see if that solves the issues. So far that has solved the problem but can't understand how this came about after working fine without a wait statement for months?!? Regardless, Julie U.S. has added a whole new level of interaction and awareness that I never had in my HA system. Being proactively told of a condition has simply been outstanding!! For me this isn't about the wow factor. It's about being able to know something important / relevant is happening in and around the home. Much thanks to everyone who had a hand in this amazing project!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited September 3, 2017 by Teken
Bill Morrow Posted September 7, 2017 Author Posted September 7, 2017 I initially thought that was the root cause. But these NR's were related to temperature for the 1 Wire network. Like you I played with adding a few seconds of wait in the program to solve that issue. Right now I'm monitoring this condition to see if that solves the issues. So far that has solved the problem but can't understand how this came about after working fine without a wait statement for months?!? Regardless, Julie U.S. has added a whole new level of interaction and awareness that I never had in my HA system. Being proactively told of a condition has simply been outstanding!! For me this isn't about the wow factor. It's about being able to know something important / relevant is happening in and around the home. Much thanks to everyone who had a hand in this amazing project!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I started having this issue recently too, after I fixed my hardware issues and got Julie speaking again. At first I thought it might be a programming issue, as it worked OK before. Once I added the Wait statement before my Network Resource line things are back to normal, as Teken indicated above. Thanks Teken, you silenced two nagging females with one blow.
Teken Posted September 7, 2017 Posted September 7, 2017 I started having this issue recently too, after I fixed my hardware issues and got Julie speaking again. At first I thought it might be a programming issue, as it worked OK before. Once I added the Wait statement before my Network Resource line things are back to normal, as Teken indicated above. Thanks Teken, you silenced two nagging females with one blow. LOL
Teken Posted September 7, 2017 Posted September 7, 2017 Another issue I've recently come to see and wonder if others have seen. I created ten additional voice announcements and for what ever reason the volume is (approx) 30~40% lower than the existing ones in place?!? Has anyone else seen this while creating new Julie U.S. voices? I had considered there was a problem on the little netbook I was using so went to another work station but the results were the same. I than went to another work station and the results were also the same! If anyone has a recommendation for a sound level normalizer program let me know because this is super annoying.
Thanatar Posted September 7, 2017 Posted September 7, 2017 You can use Audacity and amplify the offending audio file. I actually did all mine that way. It will default to the highest level without clipping, so that when you play them back they are consistent.
Teken Posted September 7, 2017 Posted September 7, 2017 You can use Audacity and amplify the offending audio file. I actually did all mine that way. It will default to the highest level without clipping, so that when you play them back they are consistent. Hello Thanatar, Can you point to the area where I can do this to an existing audio file? Everything in the software is in the default state and the volume / recording levels are all at their maximum levels. I see no way to *Boost* the audio at all unless its in a hidden window pane.
Thanatar Posted September 7, 2017 Posted September 7, 2017 Open the file in Audacity, Select the entire track. Just double click to highlight it all. Select Effect and then Amplify from the top menu. I usually leave the settings at default to avoid clipping on the audio file.
Teken Posted September 7, 2017 Posted September 7, 2017 Open the file in Audacity, Select the entire track. Just double click to highlight it all. Select Effect and then Amplify from the top menu. I usually leave the settings at default to avoid clipping on the audio file. Hello Thanatar, As always you come to the rescue for me!! I've attached a sample of the wave form before and after. I honestly don't know why these ten new audio files are so much quieter when compared to the other 400 plus I made?!?! Regardless, there is a tool and a fix for that via the all mighty Thanatar . . . You Rock ~ And you know it my friend!! Thank You!
Thanatar Posted September 7, 2017 Posted September 7, 2017 Glad you got it fixed. At 400 you definitely have more files than I do.
Scottmichaelj Posted September 8, 2017 Posted September 8, 2017 We should all contribute to a shared repository somewhere. This would help others as well. Why recreate the wheel when I am sure we all have many of the same things.
Bill Morrow Posted September 9, 2017 Author Posted September 9, 2017 I initially thought that was the root cause. But these NR's were related to temperature for the 1 Wire network. Like you I played with adding a few seconds of wait in the program to solve that issue. Right now I'm monitoring this condition to see if that solves the issues. So far that has solved the problem but can't understand how this came about after working fine without a wait statement for months?!? Regardless, Julie U.S. has added a whole new level of interaction and awareness that I never had in my HA system. Being proactively told of a condition has simply been outstanding!! For me this isn't about the wow factor. It's about being able to know something important / relevant is happening in and around the home. Much thanks to everyone who had a hand in this amazing project!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I sent this to support, just because the 2 second wait was bugging me. Just in case no one else did.
Teken Posted September 9, 2017 Posted September 9, 2017 I sent this to support, just because the 2 second wait was bugging me. Just in case no one else did. Hello Bill, Much appreciated and thank you. RE: Low Volume - I am not sure what's happen to Julie U.S. at the Oddcast website but there is definitely a volume issue. Last night I went through hundreds of voice announcements and all of them are at the correct level. Any *New* voice announcements are easily 30~40% lower in volume?!? Thanks to the all mighty Thanatar I've defined the custom amplified volume and have modified all the latest files to have the same output. Because there is a obvious volume difference I'm spending this weekend editing all of the files to use the same output level.
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