rPi for rnbo best practices for choosing one ?
Hi there,
wanted to order a couple of rPi for Structure Void (studio + teaching organization) and was intrigued by what could be the right one for our purposes.
I'd need to experiment rnbo for usual things, but also combined with processing based code running on it too.
Could rpi4 based Pi Sound like this one : https://blokas.io/pisound/ be ok for that purpose with rnbo ?
I read "The Blokas PiSound has both audio ( 1/4" jacks ) and MIDI ( full-size DIN5 ports ), but see the note above about driver compatibility." in the FAQ of pi export page here
Did someone test it with rnbo ?
Basically I'd like to have a stereo input, a stereo output. Midi could be nice but I focus on audio i/o for real-time sound analysis, and sound generation too.
Any experiences could be very appreciated here :-)
Bonjour Julien,
There are 2 things: the raspberry Pi and the audio interface. I was confused myself when I got into rPi - I first thought it was working only with very specific audio interfaces such as the PiSound.
But the rPi works great with any class-compliant audio interface. My students used for instance the extremely cheap Behringer UCA222. To teach, I prefer Class-Compliant audio and Class-Compliant MIDI.
Salut Jean-François :-)
Merci pour ta réponse!
This totally makes sense here.
So, in the case of Class-Compliant Audio use, choosing a plain rPi one (https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/) would match.
Good!
Did you play with rnbo and rPi export ?
Salut Julien,
RasPi 5 is still a quite new platform and RNBO is not yet running smoothly. If it’s for students and for learning I would recommend a Pi4 model B. 4 Gb ram is sufficient if you will only run RNBO and no graphical Desktop.
Pi4/Pisound/RNBO is a very stable and plug and play package.
If you have good cooling I’d recommend to force turbo mode in the /boot/config.txt
That allows for more audio performance.
Hi Jan M here :)
Just hesitating for a couple of other personal projects too.
I like the easy to use https://blokas.io/pisound/ including stereo in + stereo out + midi + 2 buttons directly on the device too. Just wanted to know if exporting rnbo for this was easy too.
One of the project I need to run is : a rnbo exported code running beside of a processing one, talking together. Just didn't have tested that yet.
Curious about how the image required for rnbo export goes. Do we have access to the "whole" system running ? for running processing ? or other programs ?
I guess obviously yes.
Just have to choose between a pi4 solution + class compliant vs the one I spotted.
Thanks again, this is very instructive.
Bonjour Julien,
I think you might have missed that the pisound is just an extension card for a rasbperry pi, but it cannot run any code by itself.
You either have to choose between pi4 + pisound or pi4 + class compliant sound card.
I never used pisound but hifiberry (that one), not with RNBO but with Python, and it's just recognized as an additionnal sound card. I assume it is the same for the pisound.
Apparently yes you can run whatever you want on your raspberry beside RNBO. The opposite would have been very, very frustrating.
Hâte de voir comment ça avance !
Indeed, RNBO code will run on the RPi.
To get buttons/pots, you need:
what is the best solution in many cases, use a "Arduino" to make a Class Compliant USB MIDI device that you then connect to the rPi. Doesn't work easily with any Arduino board: you need to pick one that has easy USB MIDI.
or use the rPi GPIO (see tutorial)
or a PiSound (I have not tested)
Hi all, thanks from your answers.
I was confused especially with the blokas named "hat".
Hat is basically what old people like me call a shield 👽
Got it.
I need adc more than dac in my case
That hat got both
Hifiberry got some different options too.
That's nice
And I think I have some answers here related to "rnbo compatibility"
Investigating, then buying then developing the project
Thanks again
Just pushing another question, related to the project and raspberry, but not directly related with the thread name...
One of the "sound probe" I want to deploy requires a very small microphone (I need to stick it in a very small hole to be able to catch the street sound).
I read about this very small usb one. But I'm quite sure it couldn't compete with a small sound card (hifiberry, cirrus or..) + even a small microphone with a jack cable.
Any experiences here in that raspberry context?
Salut Julien,
I am trying RNBO, pi 4 and pisound combination and for a moment, it works.
I made and am improving a kind of guitar effect pedal with a generative rhythm machine. I plug in the guitar to the input of pisound and the sound mixed with the rhythm machine goes out from the output.
I don't know yet how to use the button and nobs so I use iPhone to control volume and tempo with the web interface provided by RNBO. I have not used the midi interface, but have a intention to use it to control with a midi foot switch, I love the guitar pedal like appearance of the pisound in its acrylic box, but this can be done with any kind of midi compliant audio interface as TFL says.
Ciao !