MAFW renderer plugin with equalizer
Reading Maemo Brainstorm I happened upon a complaint: Mediaplayer and other players do not have an equalizer. Though I don’t use equalizers very often, sometimes I did it, and I find a bit upset not having one in such cool device.
Being a MAFW development, I think MAFW can provide this feature. So I made a fork from mafw-gst-renderer, and I’m pleased to announce mafw-gst-eq-renderer, which can be summarized as mafw-gst-renderer + equalizer. It’s totally open, and you can follow its development from gitorious. It must be clear that this plugin is not part of official MAFW, but a community plugin that I did in my free time.
The main goals for this fork were adding equalizing capabilities to mafw-gst-renderer, and providing a graphical equalizer. I think both were achieved.
Both in Gitorious and Projects Maemo you can find two branches/flavours.
MTR (master branch) is the upstream development: this provides Mafw-Gst-Eq-Renderer-Plugin, which creates a Mafw-Gst-Eq-Renderer source, which is accessed through gsteqrenderer UUID. If you install it in your N900, you’ll have two renderers: the original one (mafw-gst-renderer) and the new one (mafw-gst-eq-renderer).
Unfortunately, Mediaplayer only handles mafw-gst-renderer. If you want to use mafw-gst-eq-renderer instead, you must replace mafw-gst-renderer with the MGR flavour (mafw-gst-renderer branch). It provides the same capabilities as MTR flavour, but inherits the names from mafw-gst-renderer: the plugin provided is named Mafw-Gst-Renderer-Plugin, which creates a Mafw-Gst-Renderer source that can be accessed through gstrenderer UUID. Install this flavour and remove mafw-gst-renderer and Mediaplayer will be able to use the equalizer.
Setting equalizer values is as easy as changing values in GConf. If you’re writting your own mediaplayer, you can provide your own equalizer but reading/writting gconf values. For those that doesn’t have an equalizer (like Mediaplayer) a Control Panel applet is provided. With the applet a set of predefined presets are provided, though applet allow to save user configurations.
My aim is to synchronize this development with original mafw-gst-renderer, integrating all relevant changes whenever new versions are released.
I hope you find this plugin useful.
on October 22nd, 2009 at 10:59
Just linking again a similar enhancement request: https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1890
on October 22nd, 2009 at 15:12
Thank You for your efforts. This is a useful and a good feature.
on December 3rd, 2009 at 01:12
wqwq
on December 3rd, 2009 at 01:14
Ooops, sorry about above post.
For a newbie to this stuff, could you provide an idiots guide how to install this?
thanks
on December 3rd, 2009 at 09:53
If you want to use it with mediaplayer, you should install MGR flavour, which replaces the standard mafw-gst-renderer plugin, providing the same functionality.
Note that maybe you can not install it if your firmware is too new. Unfortunately, I didn’t find time yet to update the release to the last firmware version.
Extracted from INSTALL file:
How to install
==============
As this plugin provides the same functionality as mafw-gst-renderer, it is
intended to replace it. Moreover, it should replace it, as it uses the same
plugin name, source name and UUID.
The suggested steps are the following ones:
1) Install the package
2) Remove mafw-gst-renderer
If you are still unable to play a song, then mafw-gst-eq-renderer plugin must
be restarted. This can be done rebooting the device, or stoping/starting the
plugin from a terminal:
$ mafw.sh stop mafw-gst-eq-renderer
$ sudo mafw.sh start mafw-gst-eq-renderer -7
on February 9th, 2010 at 13:00
Hi thanks for your work! I also need an equalizer on my n900 and I apreciate your plug-in.
But, I’m mostla new on maemo & co, so I need help: I installed the MGR deb file through the x-term. Now my question is how to unistall the original plug-in? Where can I find it? Do I have to use the x-terminal?
Thanx for the advice!
on February 9th, 2010 at 13:36
Yes, you can uninstall original plugin from the x-terminal, running
apt-get remove mafw-gst-renderer. Probably you will need to reboot the device.Also, you can revert everything by reinstalling original plugin,
apt-get install mafw-gst-renderer mp-fremantle-generic-pr, uninstalling the renderer with equalizer,apt-get remove mafw-gst-eq-renderer, and rebooting the device.on February 9th, 2010 at 16:41
Now it works fine! Thanks a lot!
on February 9th, 2010 at 18:44
how do you install the package?
nothing happens when i try open the .deb file in app manager and i’m not sure on the code to use in xterm
someone help please
on February 9th, 2010 at 19:16
It’s quite easy. Just open a terminal, become root (running
sudo gainroot) and then install the package (withdpkg -i <package>).on February 9th, 2010 at 20:40
is that the file name of the .deb
on February 9th, 2010 at 20:50
Yes
on February 9th, 2010 at 21:21
hmmm it doesn’t want to work for me :s
it says cannot access archive: no such file or directory
on February 9th, 2010 at 21:36
If you have saved it to device, probably it is located in MyDocs directory.
on February 9th, 2010 at 22:10
i can’t see ‘MyDocs’ only a Documents folder
i’m making my self look really stupid here aren’t i lol
on February 9th, 2010 at 22:24
Let’s take it easy
I don’t know if you are used to work with the terminal.
Just open a terminal and try to see if the package is in MyDocs, by running
ls MyDocs.If it is there, then you must become root and then install the package as
dpkg -i MyDocs/package.deb.If it is not there, then try to download it again, and save it in the top folder (usually, the one under which other folders like Audio Clips, Documents, and so on are placed). That top folder is called MyDocs if you list it in a terminal.
on February 9th, 2010 at 22:58
thats better, all that was missing was just MyDocs/ from the code lol
worked now and i’ve removed the mafw-gst-renderer
just rebooting now to see the result
on February 9th, 2010 at 23:03
opened media player…. where are the eq settings?
on February 9th, 2010 at 23:12
ignore that…..found it in settings
on February 10th, 2010 at 00:51
HEEEEEELLLPPP lol
i followed this code instruction to revert back to the original settings cause it cause my media player to act up and not play songs properly
uninstalling the renderer with equalizer, apt-get remove mafw-gst-eq-renderer
the code deleted my media player completely and the next bit of code won’t reinstall it
Also, you can revert everything by reinstalling original plugin, apt-get install mafw-gst-renderer mp-fremantle-generic-pr
on February 10th, 2010 at 01:04
I’ve been testing it for a while, and I’m suffering from the same problem. The plugin needs some updates, as it is a bit old regarding MAFW framework. I’ve plans to update it soon, but due to lack of time, I’ve been postponing. But I’ll do it as soon as possible.
Regarding mediaplayer, try also to reinstall it with
apt-get install mediaplayer.on February 10th, 2010 at 01:15
thanks thats worked
do you know the code to reinstall the media player widget and tunewiki widget cause i can’t find them through app manager
(they were deleted along with media player)
on February 10th, 2010 at 11:06
IIRC, the mediaplayer widget is called mediaplayerhomeapplet, so you can reinstall it with “apt-get install mediaplayerhomeapplet”.
The same with the tunewiki widget (“apt-get install tunewiki-applet”)
on February 13th, 2010 at 11:59
hey!!!
i have installed the package but now i can’t remove the orig mafw!!!
it says {
E: could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock – open (13 permission denied)
E: unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?
what should i do??
on February 13th, 2010 at 13:18
@sniper
Seems you are not root…
Try to become root (
sudo gainroot) before uninstalling the original package.on February 21st, 2010 at 18:59
Installed, but it does not seem to change the sound at all, on moving the sliders. On PR 1.1
Mike C
on February 21st, 2010 at 22:03
OK Have this working now. I had un-install the extras decoder package and subtitles package. The Equalizer started to work. I then re-installed decoders and subtitles, and it continued to work.
on March 12th, 2010 at 09:51
Hey Jasuarez,
So what firmware version does the MGR flavour supports now? because I am not too sure whether mine is compatible. My maemo is having the PR 1.1.1 update meaning version 3.2010.02-8.
on March 12th, 2010 at 11:28
Last version supports your firmware 3.2010.02-8
on March 12th, 2010 at 20:52
May i know the link to the latest MGR version as i’m not sure which file is the right one to download. Im kinda lost in the Gitorious website and project maemo has quite a few versions.
on March 12th, 2010 at 21:03
@Lem
https://garage.maemo.org/frs/download.php/7546/mafw-gst-eq-renderer_0.1.2009.47-1-1mgr_armel.deb
on March 21st, 2010 at 02:29
OK i did everything and i have MAFW Equalizer in settings but when i change EQ nothing happens… I have latest firmware and i downloaded deb file from the link above… So… I don’t have any idea why it’s not working for me
Help would be appreciated
on March 21st, 2010 at 13:18
If you installed it, and removed all mafw-gst-renderer plugin, and rebooted the device, it should work. You’ll notice it if you change the settings while playing some music in mediaplayer.
on March 23rd, 2010 at 03:36
yes. Installed it, removed plugin, rebooted… When rebooted , eq appeared in settings. But nothing happens when i change presets… i tried everything i read here in comments … and no, nothing
Bad luck
on April 2nd, 2010 at 07:48
Hi,
On my device this eq makes breaks in the playback (sometimes silent.for seconds). Performance problem?
I would also claim, based on very limited listening, that the sound quality is affected negatively (even with no eq on the sliders). Perhaps problems with the phase response?
on April 5th, 2010 at 00:45
I’ve never notice it.
What this plugin does is just adding the standard gstreamer 10-band equalizer to the pipeline used in mafw renderer.
I’ll try to take a look to see if I can reproduce it and what could be the problem. Thanks for your feedback.
on April 10th, 2010 at 20:50
Jasuarez,
u mentioned earlier above in step 2 is to remove the mafw-gst-renderer after installing the package (step 1).
Is this the code below to removing the mafw-gst-renderer?
apt-get remove mafw-gst-renderer
on April 10th, 2010 at 21:06
Oh ok… i found the steps and done as it says… but like Uros said earlier, i am also facing the same problem. When I adjusted the sliders, the sound doesnt change at all.
What is the problem?
on April 11th, 2010 at 00:12
@Lem
Thanks for reporting the problem. I need to review what’s going on. Apologies for inconveniences.
on April 13th, 2010 at 08:49
thanks for great work. the equalizer makes n900 sound great with my headphones. but there is a bug. same problem as jari. the playback stops. it ends with some ugly noise. sometimes comes back and sometimes not. this only happens if i have more applications open (two browser windows, the mediaplayer,…) than just the mediaplayer.
on April 13th, 2010 at 09:28
@matt
Thanks for the information. I was always testing with just mediaplayer opened. Let me see if I can reserve a slot of my spare time to take a look at it.
on May 28th, 2010 at 18:49
does this work with the latest firmware? I cannot install this.
on May 28th, 2010 at 18:57
Didn’t test, but I guess no. Sorry.
on May 31st, 2010 at 00:24
Are you planing to do a new release now that pr 1.2 is out?
on June 6th, 2010 at 19:26
@rm42
Apologies for delaying the answer.
I’ve released a new version for PR1.2.
Also I’ve been checking about the problems some people mentioned before.
Seems the problem is that using the equalizer requires quite a lot of CPU.
As equalizer element is not a key part of N900 multimedia, very likely it has not been optimized to run on it. That is why you listen those glitches when having more than one application opened.
It is not my aim to fix those problems. If someone knows a way to fix them, I’ll be happy to know about it.
on June 12th, 2010 at 19:55
I’ve installed the latest version for PR1.2 but the sliders are not visible (everything else works OK)
Any offers please?
on June 12th, 2010 at 20:18
@Bill
Sliders are in a control panel applet
on June 23rd, 2010 at 20:08
This EQ is useless. Just scroll playlist or anything for a just bit and the player freezes. It’s completely draining the CPU on its own. Number of concurrent apps doesn’t matter, obviously.
Try using less bands eq, they’re available. Depending on algorithms involved it may or may not make some difference. But these EQ’s are meant for much more powerful CPU’s. They’re not optimized and have bad sound quality. You can easily tell “flat” EQ from disabled EQ.
It’s a shame, without proper EQ I can’t use N900 as my main player.
on June 23rd, 2010 at 20:40
One more thing, people can leave it installed as an option for *dedicated* listening. When you zero *all* the bands (the Flat preset), these EQ’s are just a pass-through, no modification, no CPU time.
on September 2nd, 2010 at 13:54
thanks jasuarez. it’s working very well. Allah razı olsun
on September 3rd, 2010 at 02:17
I’ve installed the mgr flavor to use on media player and it’s been successfully installed and working, however, the sliders in the control panel applet are not visible (presets worked fine). Any help would be appreciated.
SS
on September 6th, 2010 at 14:51
hi i installed the plugin but look like not exist
able to play music but equalizer can’t change output
plz help
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on October 5th, 2010 at 12:19
Hi,
Do you compile your plugin with NEON SIMD support? Just add -mfpu=neon switch to gcc line when compiling. This could easily quadruple the performance of the equalizer.
on October 5th, 2010 at 12:24
No, I didn’t. But thanks for the tip. I’ll try.
on November 20th, 2010 at 16:51
Hi,
i just got a brand new N900… now am a total noobie.. the only thing i wanted to do was get a good sound and theres no EQ!! i went through everything above.. i downloaded the deb file from garage. when i install it via X terminal, i get this
~ $ dpkg -i MyDocs/package.deb
dpkg: requested operation requires superuser privilege
when i try to go sudo gainroot it says
~ $ sudo gainroot
Enable RD mode if you want to break your device
help please
on November 22nd, 2010 at 10:42
Yes, gainroot that comes in N900 requires to have device in R&D mode (it can be done with USB cable and flasher utility).
IIRC, there’s an application out there in the catalogue that allows to become root without to have device in R&D mode.
on February 4th, 2011 at 00:31
Help me
/home/user/MyDocs # dpkg -i mafw*
(Reading database … 28974 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg 0.2.2010.07-2-1mtr (using mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg_0.2.2010.07-2-1mtr_armel.deb) …
Unpacking replacement mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg …
Preparing to replace mafw-gst-eq-renderer 0.2.2010.07-2-1mgr (using mafw-gst-eq-renderer_0.2.2010.07-2-1mgr_armel.deb) …
Unpacking replacement mafw-gst-eq-renderer …
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg:
mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg depends on mafw-gst-eq-renderer (= 0.2.2010.07-2-1mtr); however:
Version of mafw-gst-eq-renderer on system is 0.2.2010.07-2-1mgr.
dpkg: error processing mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg (–install):
dependency problems – leaving unconfigured
Setting up mafw-gst-eq-renderer (0.2.2010.07-2-1mgr) …
Errors were encountered while processing:
mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg
on February 4th, 2011 at 10:26
@Moorhohn,
either you install only the *1mtr_armel.deb packages or the *1mgr_armel.deb packages.
on February 4th, 2011 at 16:18
OK… Iam install only mgr…
/home/user/MyDocs # dpkg -i mafw*
(Reading database … 29180 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace mafw-gst-eq-renderer 0.2.2010.07-2-1mgr (using mafw-gst-eq-renderer_0.2.2010.07-2-1mgr_armel.deb) …
Unpacking replacement mafw-gst-eq-renderer …
Setting up mafw-gst-eq-renderer (0.2.2010.07-2-1mgr) …
But it’s still not working
And install only mtr:
/home/user/MyDocs/.documents # dpkg -i mafw*
(Reading database … 29180 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg 0.2.2010.07-2-1mtr (using mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg_0.2.2010.07-2-1mtr_armel.deb) …
Unpacking replacement mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg …
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg:
mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg depends on mafw-gst-eq-renderer (= 0.2.2010.07-2-1mtr); however:
Version of mafw-gst-eq-renderer on system is 0.2.2010.07-2-1mgr.
dpkg: error processing mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg (–install):
dependency problems – leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
mafw-gst-eq-renderer-dbg
Equalizer does not work
on February 4th, 2011 at 16:42
@Moorhohn
The *mtr flavour does not work with mediaplayer. So just use the *mgr.
Is the equalizer settings installed? It’s located in Control Panel. Maybe you need to reboot the device.
FWIW, this version is a mafw-gst-eq-renderer is a bit old, and maybe it is not well updated to be able to work with current mediaplayer.
on February 4th, 2011 at 18:30
Equalizer is installed in Control Panel. Mobile I rebooted but it still does not work. Version of the software I PR1.3. So to me that the equalizer does not work?
on February 4th, 2011 at 18:50
I’m afraid so
on February 5th, 2011 at 12:37
Can you adjust it for 1.3?
on February 7th, 2011 at 01:36
Unfortunately, I don’t have much spare time to dedicate to it. Not to mention that it requires a rethought, as it is consuming too much resources.
Anyone willing to retake the task, I’ll appreciate it and they’ll get my support.
on February 7th, 2011 at 02:29
The problem is that I am from Czech Republic. I do not know any programmers. You have been my last chance for a better music.
on March 23rd, 2011 at 00:22
Hi. I’ve got this installed and running and was very happy with it, but then I rebooted the n900 and all of a sudden the eq stopped working. (there’s still sound, but the eq does squat) I’ve tried reinstalling but no luck, although I did notice when I tried reinstalling the mediaplayer I get a whole heap of errors like this one:
Error in type ‘application/x-netshow-channel’
* (in /usr/share/mime/packages/freedesktop.org.xml):
* Unknown freedesktop.org field ‘generic-icon’.
And also a “I’ve been haxored to use….” thing.
Not sure what it ment so hopefully someone can help me out so I can continue using the eq. The whole error thing is too long for the xterm’s window so that’s why I didn’t post it on here. If its needed someone will have to teach me a way to log it all. Thanks in advance.
on March 23rd, 2011 at 00:39
@Endarphase
I’m afraid the plugin is a bit outdated, and I’m not having too much free time to update it.
on March 23rd, 2011 at 01:05
Ahh okay. I just thought it might be something wrong with my device because it worked on the first install then never again. Thanks anyways. It was a great plugin while it lasted.
on March 30th, 2011 at 20:08
Great article. Waiting for more.