[Announce][Fremantle] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

I am happily to announce a new music player application - symfonie.


8/17/2010
For easier to maintenance of update information, I have create a page for symfonie. Please use the following URL for program updates:

http://thecodecentral.com/symfonie



If you like symfonie please help us test the package and promote it to extra.[/SIZE][/COLOR]



--for Fremantle (N900)

A directory based music player with equalizer
===================================
This is preview package of a light weight music player written in QT. The player is still under heavy development, though basic media features are supported. Here's list of features included in this build:

- Browse file using directory structure (any folders as long as you have access to it)
- 8-band audio equalizer
- Sleep timer
- Resuming the playback from last opened state (still testing this)
- Landscape/Portrait mode (Toolbars still need some more work)
- Full screen mode
===========================================
Known issues:
- When changing view mode (landscape or portrait), toolbar buttons got mis-arranged (will fix this when I have time).
- High CPU usage (probably due to the equalizer). Solutions are: make equalizer feature optional or set higher process priority (is this possible?).
- "Auto" viewing mode is not working due to current QT support limitation


Updates

==20100608 (v0.2.2)==
* Recompiled the package for PR 1.2
* Interface overhaul. Under full screen mode will give you even more space (see new script shoots)
* Auto orientation mode is working after PR 1.2
* Buttons in toolbar will now keep their correct order.
* Added option to hide the toolbar
* And a lot other bug fixes

==20100401 (v0.2-2)==
* Uploaded program screen shots
* Updated window title
* Bug fix for graduate volume resuming (now should be working)
* Limited file browser to home directory
* Added *.wma file type filter


==20100309==
* Icons overhaul
* Updated about dialog
* Added *.wav file extension filter

==20100308==
* Added *.m4a file extension filter
* Equalizer is made an optional feature now due to high CPU consumption
* Removed directory path for songs in item view
* Slightly increased item view font size
* Added *.mp3/*.mp4/*.ogg file extension filter
* New bug: Stacked window is now broken after adding menu to sub window

Added on 20100608:
http://thecodecentral.com/i/s5.png

http://thecodecentral.com/i/s6.png

=========================================
http://thecodecentral.com/i/s1.gif

http://thecodecentral.com/i/s2.gif

http://thecodecentral.com/i/s3.gif




The package can be found at http://maemo.org/packages/view/symfonie. It has already been imported to extras-devel, so anyone who has extras-devel repository enabled should be able to download it.

To enable extra-devel, add this to your App Manager's catelog:
http://repository.maemo.org/extras-devel

Be very caution that extras-devel is for people who want to test/try softwares which are not ready for releasing. Please read here for more information:
http://wiki.maemo.org/Extras-devel

Background:
The original intent of writing this application was that I need a simple media player "just the way I wanted" - play mp3 files by folders. I didn't want to tag my music library nor to create play list manually. I use directory to manage all my music files because I can group them into exactly the way I wanted. Thus this application is created. So if you don't like it, please don't thumb it down because it is not meant to replace other music players out there.

Thank you for read this and I hope you will find this application useful :)

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

did not find it in devels

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

This sounds really good, especially playing by folders, just what I want. I'm not usually in devel testing but I'm so intested in this app I'm very tempted.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

For those who don't want to enable extras-devel, you can download the deb package directly from (the latest):
http://maemo.org/packages/view/symfonie/

Do a "sudo gainroot" in your N900 x-terminal, and type "dpkg -i [package-name]".

Though by doing this you need to install all the dependencies required by symfonie package manually.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

nice appl but it actually eats lots of CPU and sometimes it forces player to stop the sound for w while without stoping song.
I think that it should save last equ setting

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

There are two possible cause as far as I know.
- If you have set the sleep timer, playback will stop at designated time.
- When the CPU usage is high, the playback will be interrupted

Your case is most like the second one. Currently I don't have solution for this. I am trying to figure out a way to set the process priority to high, but I am not sure this is doable through API.

I fount out from TOP command that "pulseaudio" has --high-priority switch. Since symfonie uses QT phonon framework for playback, I don't think symofnie getting this priority benefit.

I am hoping any expert here can explain how to do this for application in Maemo.

There's a walk around for this. Whenever the playback stops, pause the playback for a few second. Once the program catches up its breathe, it will play again.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Hi,

I have enabled extras-devel, installed the app, it installed successfully,
But I cannot find it in the applications menu, and not as a widget, and not as a shortcut.

Help :)

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Are you interested in taking this app to the next level as a replacement audio player? You have some great features, and I have some good ideas and some design skills I'd like to contribute if you are interested.

Let me know!

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

I was just thinking of starting a thread asking if someone was working on a lightweight audio player. Great work! I am going to be following this with a lot of interest!

If I may suggest a next feature to be added later, it would be great to have some sort of playlist management, maybe like winamp on the desktop (I also ignore its media library thing, I already have all my music organised in folders tthe way I like)..

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

ill only try if you port milkdrop as visuals. :D

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Worst case scenario: QProcess + renice command ?

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

So you're never trying it? Milkdrop is windows only. ProjectM would be cool, but it would then have to be ported to OpenGL|ES

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Haven't yet tried it, but it's just what i want.

Thanks you very much.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Sounds good! I'll be giving it a try once i've sorted my rootfs.. more intersted in the resume from previous and folder options than in the equaliser so for me if the equaliser eats cpu then the option to turn it off would make sense. Thanks for developing this :)

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Hi Joshua,

You are welcome to contribute. If you don't mind, you can post your ideas/suggestions here for open discussion. I surely want input from other as well. Just post them here as I will follow this thread quite frequent.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Bump :)
I really want to try it! Help!!!

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

You probably have an old version installed. Any version earlier than 0.1-5 will not be shown in the application menu. Could you try to remove the package via App manage and install it again? If it doesn't work, try to install it via x-terminal using sudo gainroot and dpkg -i [package-name].

After installation, check if the binary is installed by:
ls /usr/bin/symfonie

If you don't see anything, something is wrong. Please report it back :(

Added:
If you see /usr/bin/symfonie, you can you execute it from your terminal, which will launch the program.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

I'll be checking everything in about 1 hour when I get home to my wireless + charger :)
Right now my phone is making awful sounds of low battery, it almost sounds like I have offended it.
Keep you posted, thx for info.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Ok,

Uninstalled, updated app manager, now 0.1-6 appears.
Installing...

Appears in application menu (: now were talking!!!
Thx mate.

Impressions :
- Works fast.
- Interface is good enough.
- Fonts are too small for folders.
- Icons at the bottom are too small.
- No On/Off checkbox for Equalizer. Does this mean it's working constant even if left @ defaults? Waste of battery in that case.
- Missing equalizer save/load preset.
- Missing restore defaults for equalizer, or for the whole app.

Thx for this app, it's great anyway.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

there is allso some flickering, when seek trought the track.....
any way,... good job! ;)
keep on working on it!

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Does it support mp4, m4a or aacPlus?
:confused:

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...347#post559347


http://projectm.sourceforge.net/

milkdrop is open source for linux and for openGL. if someone includes this for their music app ill fall over.

top link has screens

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Would it be possible for you to make a desktop widget for it?

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Nice! I will try it out! Can't wait!!

Btw is this based on QT4.5? or QT4.6.2?

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

It is written in QT4.6.2.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Just to be clear, it's written in C++, using QT 4.6.2 Framework?
or Python?

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Does that matter?

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Just curious, am I allowed?

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

It is written in C++ version of QT 4.6.2 framework. Does it matter? - just wondering.

BTW, I've updated the package today. Now you can enable/disable the equalizer at your will. Noticeable performance improvement without the equalizer. Please check upated description for more detail.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

It matters for 2 reasons :
1. I am on the way of writing some apps my self for the n900, and I always like to know what other people are using.
2. Curiosity! (Killed the cat).

3. Awesome about the EQ. >>> Updating.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

I was curious as well. Wondered if there was some performance overhead etc. Thats why I asked about you asking.

Now if you ask why I asked why you asked .... wait how many is that :)

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Haha 9:
I thought you are dismissing my curiosity.

As far as I know, Python at least on PCs is written in C, and is very fast. I guess some portions of Python applications could be written in C / C++ to get better speed, but only heavy programmers would know how to spot those problems (:

Iv'e written applications in TCL/TK, which is by some considered a very inferior scripting language, and people are using those apps for more then 3 years. Among them are applications that are use to test networking aspects, and TCP.

So I wouldn't disrespect Python (not implying that you did ofc).

Cheers.
Eitam.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Could we have an option to have a visual nav (album / artist) or folder nav? Folder could also have an option to turn cover art on / off? I could also design custom buttons for the app as well as any other elements required.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Great music player,
almost a 100% replacement for the built in one.
all you need to do is bring in playlists and pre-set equalizer settings,

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

I have updated icons to Maemo's stock icons. The overall UI looks a lot better now. There's no need for icons now.

I am not planning to add album/artist navigation as this player will be solely directory based - though I am planning to parse media meta information for displaying. It is very likely in the future the ability to sort the songs in current folder by file name, artist name, album name, etc could be implemented.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

These are on the way :). The play list thing will require some serious effort to make it happen.

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Wonderful.. just wht im looking for , play files by folders . the main reason i love my cowon D2. ( apart from its sound quality)

, Thanks a lot.

Few suggestions -

1- file browser is going all the way to root , bin , sys, and everywhere. restricting it to Mydocs will be great.

2- option to save and load eq presets.

some more ideas to make it better -

-possible to make queue list ? like while im listening to one track let me choose which all tracks to follow.

-option to change the frequency levels on those 8 bands ( im little bit close to an audiophile , sorry )

- a simple bass and treble adjustment option. ( opps N900 is not an amp.)

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

Works great for me :)

I also have few suggestions :

- the album art instead of the yellow and pink file logo

-When I'm looking for a file in the list, the list can be moved from right to left that is making it difficult to control. Would it be posible to make it not moving ,

-When i'm in the list for files, i don't need to see the logo "play" "forward" "volume" ect... on the bottom. Would it be possible to hide them, to leave the maximum of space for the list ? we would see something like 25% more of the list that would be great, this is what we need at this moment.

- when playing the song, would it be possible to see the album art on the left and the songs list on the right ?

- the possibility to play "shuffle" for all the songs of all the files would be great

- in "landscape" "auto" "portrait", "auto" is always bringing me to landscape, any solution for this ?

- as said already, save the EQ

- file browser is going all the way to root , bin , sys, and everywhere. restricting it to Mydocs will be great.

- widget desktop would be nice

- having it working with the "Now Playing Notifications" app.

This is all for the moment :)
With all of this I'll never use again the default media player :)
Symfonie as default !

thanx a lot for your work !

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

no screen captures in the first post ???

Re: [Announce] Music Player with Equalizer - symfonie
 

If it's ok, I'd like to suggest a way of implementing playlists inspired by the way I use them in the PC. There I just drag and drop directories/files into the playlist window, so my suggestion is,

Create a second pane on the right for the playlist which can be resized by dragging a divisor, sort of like some filebrowsers work. You would select the directories on the left and add them to the playlist. You would also be able to select items on the playlist to remove them. Add a simple shuffle and repeat button and I think that's all you would need to make playlist management way easier than on the stock media player.