RPi Jukebox, based on XLobby and Mountain Jukebox design

[DaOld Man]

Hello Folks. Hope you are having a good year so far, in spite of the covid virus.

I thought I would try to make another jukebox, based on Mountain's classic design.
I also wanted to use a spare RPi3 I had laying around gathering dust.
I like the look and feel of XLobby, the front end software I used on my previous jukeboxes. (Projects links below in signature).
So I decided to try to recreate the XLobby look.

I am currently in software design and writing.
Here are my specs: (Subject to change)
RPi3 with 32 GB sd card.
Python 3.
PyGame (to display images)
Mutagen (To read MP3 tags)
Look and feel as much as possible like XLobby.

Hardware: (Also subject to change)
15" Touchscreen (more on that later).
Use external memstick to store music and photos on, so editing will be easy by transferring stick to a PC (or Mac).

I bought a 15" Pittney Bowes POS touchscreen monitor. (Ebay)
It has excellent picture but I cannot get the RPi to see the touchscreen digitizer (or whatever its called).
I am currently using that monitor with a mouse for software development, but will most likely order a 10" screen made for RPi before beginning cabinet design.
(Be interesting to see how the resolution will differ).

I plan not to use the rotating cabinet like I did on my other Mountain designs.

I will try to keep this updated and I will share my python script when I get to the point where I feel its ready to share and test.
I currently have the main screen built, and am pretty far along with the "All Albums" display.
Here is a picture of the main screen, with my girlfriend on arm and car on wish list.
I will post a pic of the "all albums screen" as soon as I can get a decent pic without the mirror of me in the black background screen. (having a bad hair day LOl).

Wish me luck and bare with me, Python is a finicky language and Im still learning it as I go.

[javeryh]

Hey DaOldMan - glad to see you working on another project!

I don’t suppose when you say “read mp3 tags” you mean NFC/RFID stuff?  Probably not but thought I’d ask.  Been really wanting to use a raspberry pi and a NFC reader to play albums/playlists from Spotify but I cannot find a good tutorial and I have no idea where to even begin.  The idea would be to build some sort of box with a pi and the NFC reader inside and then I could place objects on the top of the box with the NFC tag (I think they can be stickers) to play music from my (Premium) Spotify account.

I’ll be following along - always loved jukebox type stuff.

[DaOld Man]

Hi javeryh, it's good to be creating again.

No, Im talking about the tags that are hidden in a mp3 file (music file, cd track, etc).
I plan on not getting on the net with this juke, so thats why im planning a thumb drive (memstick) that can be moved to my PC to save ripped cd's that are currently on my PC.

That idea you have sounds really cool. Finding info on how to do things with python can be very tedious.
I would like to see the work you do with the RFID idea.

I changed the "all albums menu" (AKA Music Menu) background, to a clouds background, so I can get an example pic without me in the reflection.
Here is the pic with 4 albums saved. I still have a lot of buttons and things to paint onto the screen. PyGame has a learning curve but it is pretty powerful in allowing you to place items on the screen, and easily move them through code.



Sorry about the quality of pics, my iphone cam sees lines in the monitor that i dont see in real life.

[DaOld Man]

Ive been thinking about how I want to do the speakers.
My other two Mountain Jukeboxes used the same speaker box that he used on his original design.
Since I wont have that box this time, I need to put the speakers somewhere.
So I am considering making a "shelf" below the monitor to place a bluetooth speaker, which can be removed from the shelf and carried to another location (within bluetooth range).
I have also considered mounting two additional speakers that can be used if BT is turned off (battery dies in speaker would be one example.)
Now I need you guys' opinions on this.
Should I use fixed speakers or just the bluetooth?
Should I not use the shelf idea and just have the bluetooth laying somewhere near the jukebox?
Although the shelf will add to overall size of the juke, I like idea of having a place to store the BT speaker when not used remotely.
Here is a rough sketch of two of the options. I didnt draw my third option, which would be no shelf at all.



Also, for you audio guys, if I go with fixed speakers, the area will be small so i will have to use small speakers. Would it be worth the effort to even use fixed speakers at all? (Audio quality issues?)

[cyberphox]

Always wanted a Mountain Jukebox...make 2 shells while you are at it!!!

[DaOld Man]

Just a quick update.
Still hammering on the frontend (software).
Heres a iphone pic of the album menu: (actually A album menu)



I have ordered the 10 inch touch screen monitor, should be here next monday. The real fun shall begin then.

[DaOld Man]

Quick shot of THE album (music) menu.
This is a work in progress, not finished yet.
This screen will list all the albums you have in your collection (10 per page).

[DaOld Man]

Always wanted a Mountain Jukebox...make 2 shells while you are at it!!!

Dont know about the two shells, it's all I can do to crank out one LOL.
It would be nice to use a 3d printer to do the shells (I dont have one.)
Mountain is the one who designed this concept, and I would not produce any for anyone else without his consent.
You can review his threads (and mine)  to get you started.
I'm sure you can do it. And please post your build on here.

[javeryh]

Looking good.  I’m consistently amazed by the skills people on these forums have. 

I love jukeboxes but Spotify has basically replaced my entire music collection... and I think I listen to less artists now as a result because there’s nothing to browse.  Bummer.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[cyberphox]

I always wondered what happened to Mountain but he hasn't be around or answers any messages. Don't know if he had any other type of social media presence and his website is dead and gone.
Pity. I just have so many projects on the go and wanted to pay for convenience on this one to get it done quicker..LOL

Always wanted a Mountain Jukebox...make 2 shells while you are at it!!!

Dont know about the two shells, it's all I can do to crank out one LOL.
It would be nice to use a 3d printer to do the shells (I dont have one.)
Mountain is the one who designed this concept, and I would not produce any for anyone else without his consent.
You can review his threads (and mine)  to get you started.
I'm sure you can do it. And please post your build on here.

[DaOld Man]

I always wondered what happened to Mountain but he hasn't be around or answers any messages. Don't know if he had any other type of social media presence and his website is dead and gone.
Pity. I just have so many projects on the go and wanted to pay for convenience on this one to get it done quicker..LOL

Yeah I dont know what happened to Mountain either. I sure hope all is well with him and his.
He was selling his jukebox design kits for awhile. That takes a ton work off a builder.
Maybe he will see this thread and respond.

[DaOld Man]

Quick update:
Got the 10" touchscreen from amazon.
Its pretty neat. Allows you to mount the Rpi to it's back.
At first I thought I got a bad one cause it would not show a display.
I found out that it will mot display 800 X 600 resolution, and thats what I had the RPi set to display.
I hooked the 15" screen back up, went in and changed resolution to 1280 X 720 and it works great now.
Of course my jukebox program is setup to display in 800X600 so everything is off on it, so now I have more work to do. Yay!! 
But touch part works great and its plug and play, or at least it was for me on my RPi3.

here is a link to it, if anyone is interested:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0776VNW9C

[DaOld Man]

Just a quick update to show off the 10" touchscreen.
Im happy with it.

Front view, turned off. protective plastic film still on (it will be until I finish the project). The black screen is highly reflective when monitor is turned off.
You can even see the ceiling reflected in it. (I have it laying flat on my workbench, AKA kitchen bar.



Here is the back view:



And a view of one of the jukebox display screens:



Stay tuned for more later.

[javeryh]

Looks good!  I can't believe that album is coming up on 30 year old.  Damn.

[DaOld Man]

Looks good!  I can't believe that album is coming up on 30 year old.  Damn.

Sucks getting old. Trust me. I know. LOL

[DaOld Man]

Just a quick update.
I had a piece of lexan in my junk box so I had an idea.
I cut it to fit the standoffs on the back of the touch screen, Mounted a 12 Volt fan to cool the RPi CPU, and it was loud, so I added a resistor to slow it down.
Mounted two cheap amazon signal power relays. One switches the screen power, the other will select whether the switch on the volume knob turns on the Jukebox, or mutes sound if juke is already on.
These relays will be powered by 12 VDC and control by 5 VDC from one of the USB ports. I found the USB ports have power before any GPIO outputs are turned on, and the power stays on longer than GPIO during shutdown.
I cut out the lexan to allow easy access to the GPIO terminal.
I also mounted the two power supplies to the lexan.
They will be daisy chained on the high voltage side to a 120 volt socket.
This screen has audio out, but I found that the RPi does not automatically switch between HDMI and Bluetooth when bluetooth speaker is present. It does seem to automatically switch between the audio jack and bluetooth.
I had a small audio amp that I plan to use for the internal speakers. It needs 5vdc, which I will get off the screen, it has an output for to power the RPi, but I dont want to use it for that, plus the RPi gave a couple low voltage warnings when playing around with that, but it should be more than enough juice for the amp and a few led's (Marque and volume knob)

[DaOld Man]

More update.
I got the 2 power supplies (wall warts) hooked in parallel.
They will be going to a plug in the back of cabinet, but for now they are going to a pig tail cord.
I have the assembly sitting on the edge of a shoe box.
Here are some pics for your enjoyment.
I decided to go with the HDMI audio out on the monitor card.
The small amp that lugged int to the RPi audio jack was not very loud at all. The HDMI Audio has much better quality sound, and they it drives the speakers directly.
Will have to figure out about the bluetooth not automatically switching the audio out. But it didnt seem to work when I had the small speaker amp plugged int to the RPi audio jack.
Maybe it not being plugged in was the reason the bluetooth was automatically switching audio before?
Anyway, on with the show:

[javeryh]

Looking good! 

[DaOld Man]

Thanks James. I dont even try to live up to the expert examples you and others post on here anymore.

Another quick update.
Been playing around with on/mute switch and volume control.
I mounted the encoder/push button to the cardboard box.
I got to playing around with the switch part and I thought "why do I need a relay for this function?"
I wired the switch to pins 5 and 6. Pushing the knob in turns the RPi on, now I plan to write a script that after startup, it looks for pin 5 going low. If it does it either mutes or un-mutes the sound. (Is un-mute a word?)
I wired a 470 ohm resistor in the ground (pin6) wire because I am anally OCD on protecting things. (But you guys know that already.)
I plan to use the same ground for the A and B switches on the encoder to control the volume.
I am still writing the script and will post how that turns out.
I also am playing with internet radio, and am currently listening to a channel called "radio paradise", pretty cool. The gears are turning about adding radio to this baby now.
Anyway, here is a pic of the encoder mounted to the test rig (shoebox).
Volume control encoder switches not hooked up yet.

[DaOld Man]

I think I will need to cut a hole in the plexi to allow access to the sd card on the RPi.
Looks like it will be a trick to get to it without removing the plexi. Be even worse after its mounted in the cabinet.
Knowing my luck the card will crap out as soon as everything is finished.
Thinking of removing the relay next to fan and cut out a section right above the card to allow tweezers to pull the card out and insert it.
It will still be a trick but not as bad as it is now I dont think.

Heres my idea:

[Gilrock]

Probably be safer to buy one of those SD card extension cables for around $7

[DaOld Man]

Probably be safer to buy one of those SD card extension cables for around $7

You are probably right. Shopping now.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks to Gilrocks suggestion, I have moved the SDCard position to a more accessible place.

Ordered a extender adapter from amazon. It was around 10 bucks, but was shipped from within US, not China, so it arrived in 3 days.
(Im sure it was made in China, but thats way to common these days.)

I folded the cable and tapped it down as flat as I could.



The adapter came with some double sided tape. I tapped it down to back of monitor. Its a little whoppy-jawed (crooked), but the tape sticks like crazy, guess I can live with it.



I then placed the monitor circuit board back on top of it, and replaced the plexi chassis.



I like this a lot more, but it's a shame I had to do that to start with.

[DaOld Man]

Here is the code for the encoder to control volume.
I still need to get current volume setting when starting. (I cant seem to find the command for this).
I got the code from the credited website, but had to modify it quite a bit for my use.

Code: [Select]

#!/usr/bin/env python3

# set master volume with encoder for rpi. KRR 05/10/2021

#  adapted to suit my needs from https://github.com/bruceiow/rPiVolumeControl/blob/master/VolumeControl.py

from RPi import GPIO
from time import sleep
import subprocess
from subprocess import call

# These are the GPIO numbers for the clk,dt and mute switch pins from the encoder
clk =35
dt = 37
mute_pin=11

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
GPIO.setup(clk, GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP)
GPIO.setup(dt, GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP)
GPIO.setup(mute_pin, GPIO.IN, pull_up_down=GPIO.PUD_UP)

counter = 50 # need to get current volume setting from amixer
oldcounter=counter
clkLastState = not GPIO.input(clk) # using NOT because Im using GND for switch commons
mute=False


def switch_mute(channel):
    global mute
    if mute:
        mute=False
        call (["amixer","set", "Master","unmute"])   
    else:
        mute=True
        call (["amixer","set", "Master","mute"])
   
GPIO.add_event_detect(mute_pin, GPIO.FALLING, callback=switch_mute, bouncetime=100)


try:
   while True:
     if not mute:
       clkState = not GPIO.input(clk)
       dtState = not GPIO.input(dt)
       if clkState != clkLastState:
         clkLastState = clkState
         if dtState != clkState:
           if counter <101: 
            counter += 1
         else:
           if counter >1:
            counter -= 1
         #if counter<1:counter=1
         #if counter>100: counter=100
         
       if counter!= oldcounter:
         call (["amixer","sset", "Master",str(counter)+"%"])
         oldcounter=counter
       #sleep(0.1) # may need to adjust
finally:
      GPIO.cleanup()



[DaOld Man]

Bad news from the front:
The SD Card crapped out. Kept getting "input/output error". Lost everything on the card.
Reformatted card and re-installed everything (I had backups on my pc). Still got the errors.
I removed the extension cable adapter, installed card directly into RPi. Still got the errors.
Im thinking that card is toast.
I formatted another card, installed OS (Debian Buster) image, then spent a good part of the day re-installing software and scripts.
So far so good.
Im afraid now to use that extension adapter, what if that is what crapped on my first sdcard?

[DaOld Man]

Update:
Been mostly working on the software. It's tedious but it is coming along.
I bought a cheap ($5) 16 gig sd card at walmart. I plan to burn an image to it, hook up the sdcard extension thing a ma jiggy.
Will test it for a few days, if the card doesnt crap out after a while, I may re-implement the extension cable.

I added a opto isolator to control the fan. Now it only comes on when needed.



This OS (Raspian Buster I will get version # later), has a built in function to control the fan.
Pretty neat.


(Sorry didnt know I chopped off left side of pic until I loaded it onto the PC.) Hopefully you can get the gist of it.

[orion]

Xlobby and Jukeboxes. Been a long time since I played around with that! Awesome that your still at it! Looking good!

[bobbyb13]

Impressive how you are fitting that much hardware into a space that size.

And I could only dream of writing any code in any language!

Highly motivational.
Looking forward to seeing you finish this.

And... is that your Corvette?!

[DaOld Man]

And... is that your Corvette?!

No, but I sure wish it was. There is a Corvette Museum in Bowling Green Ky USA, (Where Corvettes are made), this pic was taken while on a tour of the museum.

[DaOld Man]

Sorry folks I havent been pretty well away from the scene lately. Update on my progress with this project:
I havent done much to it.
I was having a very hard time getting the media player, VLC for python3, to do what I want as far as the play lists from python.
I think I came up with an idea to make it work, but I guess that was about the time I pushed it and my other hobbies aside.
I havent even started on the cabinet yet, was waiting to get the software working like I want it.
I do need to get back on this project, and I also have two other projects gathering dust in my limited space tool shed that I started before this one.
I will try to post some updates soon.
Hope all is well with everyone.

[bobbyb13]

Was wondering what you've been up to.
Good to see you back!
I need to put down a pile of other things and get back at my juke project too.

[Greenman]

Alright! Another jukebox!!!