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Linux HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - Printable Version

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RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - wastis - 2022-09-14

I really encourage you to set up kodi & equalizer on raspberry pi os lite as linked above. It is just a copy / paste of the commands, very easy. From what I have seen, there is only very little difference with OSMC.

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - wastis - 2022-09-27

Finally I found a way to use pulseaudio equalizer on OSMC. I wrote an addon OSMC Equalizer Setup, that does the whole configuration on the current OSMC release (9/22). This is specially targeted to users who do not want to deal with command line.

@teus and all, in case this is still of interest for you.

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - teus - 2022-09-27

(2022-09-27, 16:06)wastis Wrote: Finally I found a way to use pulseaudio equalizer on OSMC. I wrote an addon OSMC Equalizer Setup, that does the whole configuration on the current OSMC release (9/22). This is specially targeted to users who do not want to deal with command line.

@teus and all, in case this is still of interest for you.
that's ... amazing. 
thanks, I'll try it as soon as I can

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - teus - 2022-09-28

(2022-09-27, 16:06)wastis Wrote: Finally I found a way to use pulseaudio equalizer on OSMC. I wrote an addon OSMC Equalizer Setup, that does the whole configuration on the current OSMC release (9/22). This is specially targeted to users who do not want to deal with command line.

@teus and all, in case this is still of interest for you.
Yep, installation works flawlessly. equalization works, I can save profiles, and I can quickly switch profiles with a keypress from my Wemos airmouse. 
This is absolutely amazing. THANK YOU.

Next up is buying a reference microphone so I can do a better mapping of the equalization, and perhaps do room correction. Perhaps I ca

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - teus - 2022-09-28

Perhaps I can get dynamic range compression working as well, which is through LADSPA

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - wastis - 2022-09-28

Yes, from this stage on it is simple. If you need help, let me know.

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - teus - 2022-10-14

Suddenly Kodi rebooted after I tried to play a file. After the reboot, the system reacted very slowly and the audio was choppy.  In the add-on I removed the pulseaudio features, and the system was running normally again.
I'm now going to try the addons again. They need to install pulseaudio from scratch again, it takes a while on Raspberry pi. 
Maybe it would be nice to have an extra menu option to switch between the ALSA and pulseaudio services.

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - teus - 2022-10-14

alright, it seems I can switch back and forth to ALSA by restoring /usr/bin/mediacenter.backup 
now I'm on Pulse again. when playing music, the simple background spectrum animation runs at a very low framerate (like 2-3 frames per second). when I disable the equalizer profile, it plays at a normal speed again. hmm.

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - wastis - 2022-10-15

@teus you could set-up a small script with ShellScriptLauncher that does the switching for you.

Another solution could be to create an alsa configuration file /home/osmc/.asoundrc with something like
 
Code:
pcm.hdmiout{
  type iec958
  slave {
    format IEC958_SUBFRAME_LE
    pcm {
        type plug
        slave.pcm {
          type hw
          card 0
        }
    }
  }
}
I have not verified this, but I think Kodi will then show the alsa devices aside the pulseaudio output, so you can switch to them bypassing pulseaudio.

In regards to the low frame rate of the background spectrum animation, maybe it cannot deal with the audio latency the equalizer introduces. Pulesaudio has a relative large audio buffer of approx 350ms, which means 3 frames / second. In the PulseEqualizer-addon this is compensated by the port latency settings of the output device.

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - azaha - 2023-05-24

@wastis

Am I ever glad I found your posts
As an older model with major hearing problems in certain frequencies (4k) and tinitus as a bonus what muddles my brain to something like cream chese I am looking for a working solution since XBMC

In my windows pc I work with peace and equalizer apo to get the sound halfways understandable.

As a Media Box I use an old Beelink ap43 Apollo Lake N3450 MINI computer (Intel Processor N3450,2M Cache, up to 2.5 GHz, Intel HD Graphics 500, Installed RAMBig GrinDR3 4GB, System Disk: 64GB
This is running with libreelec at the moment, but I was tempted to install an old win 10 LTSB to have the equalizer apo benefits.

With your setup with automatic volume control functionality and nice equalizer I am willing to move to another OS  like mint or else.
I an looking for something simple where things like samba, command lines and lots of tech stuf is not necessary.

just a simple install this and add that , set this to that and you finally can hear what they say on screen and do not need to keep the remote contsantly to boost the quiet parts and hastily lower the loud parts.
Something sinple.
If this is not possible with my hardware, I have lots of elderly laptops with more power  if needed  or I could spend some extra money to by into the pie business and get a raspberry or banana or what ever.
your input will be greatly appreciated.

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - wastis - 2023-05-24

Yes, any Debian / Ubuntu based distribution will work with the equalizer. However if you are not willing to do some command line, I recommend to stick with Win10 or look at OSMC. 

So how I see it:
WIN 10 - apo - you have the experience, think this is the fasted way forward for you. 

OSMC - you will need raspberry pi or vero box. Currently the equalizer and compressor will run on it (I havn't tested the vero box, though).

Linux - Ubuntu / Mint Desktop - will work mostly without command line, however sometimes it is faster / easier to do some command line.
In both cases you would need to set up Kodi in autostart.

I personally think a Mediabox should directly boot into Kodi. For this I wrote a sample setup for debian headless install, I haven't tested it the last 10 months, though.
This is pure command line, however you might get away with just copy - paste. Example Setup on Debain Headless.

I personally would not purchase a raspberry pi unless you want to save some few watts in power consumption (I guess amortization in 10 years), or save some physical space, or upgrade to 4k. I think the N3450 outperforms the pi by far, which results in nicer menu reaction time.  

If you want a new hardware, you could have a look at OSMC. I wrote a addon, which does the setup of the equalizer / compressor automatically, however I am not sure whether I will continue to support this long term as the interest on this is quite low. Currently you could set-up everything without command line or deal with technical stuff. 

I also want to point you to the Digital Room Correction thread, in some cases you could define a profile as acoustic therapy for tinitus treatment by suppressing the specific frequencies. This improved my tinitus a bit.

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - azaha - 2023-05-25

thank you for the fast answer
I like to stick with the box  since I already lost 3 cheap android boxes what were running coreelec. (they all commited suicide after less than a year in service)
The n3450 beelink is of good quality (full metal) and has alone 3 usb 3 ports.
I had a couple years ago switched all my computers to dualboot win 10 and Linux mint cinamon, what was mostly painless exept for a cheap china atom processor with a funky audioadapter.
BUT with the help of somebody I got it running after a few days.
I have no problem with command lines since I come from a z80 and basic programming (1981), but I try to avoid them when possible as a windows user since 3.0.
I left the Linux world when I could no even get my vpn service propperly installed.

As far as I understand this thread you have a working solution was is optimized for a linux distro.
Since this will be a set up and forget installation without any updates anything working what does the trick is fine by me.
I do not need the newest kodi as long as i have a working equalizer and an atomatic sound level thingy.

And please do not be discuraged by the little interest, I search for a solution since kodi was named xbmc and have all but given up.
Since we early computer guys come into the bad hearing age interest will pick up.

So if you can get me started on my journey to finally have my sound right for my hearing that would be great.
The setting you have in that picture from the equalizer with the max amp at 4k is nealy identical to my setting in windows.
As I mentioned my tinitus is since a few months at a mind numbing level, please be gentle.
I can hold one thought right now and are able to work when I have the right links  and info what to do.

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - azaha - 2023-05-25

Just found my old threads where we thought that the DSP wuold solve the equalizer problem, that was in 2015
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=246096&pid=2149497#pid2149497
or even earlier from 2010, the xbmc version was namded Darma then
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=84823&pid=645541#pid645541

you see, it was a long journey for me sofar

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - wastis - 2023-05-25

(2023-05-25, 01:30)azaha Wrote: I have no problem with command lines since I come from a z80 and basic programming (1981), but I try to avoid them when possible as a windows user since 3.0.
So in this case I strongly recommend to set up a Debian headless as described here: link
If you follow that process, you will get a nice and fast Kodi with equalizer & compressor
(2023-05-25, 01:30)azaha Wrote: As far as I understand this thread you have a working solution was is optimized for a linux distro.
Works with any linux - distribution where pulse-audio is installed. (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora ...)
(2023-05-25, 01:30)azaha Wrote: The setting you have in that picture from the equalizer with the max amp at 4k is nealy identical to my setting in windows.

It might not only be your hearing but also the quality of your speaker. I found that many speaker on TV, soundbars etc. are amplifying the low frequencies while the mid frequencies are much quieter. The mid frequencies however make the human talking understandable.

So I recommend following process.
- Install Debian and Kodi as linked above.
- do digital room correction. This will improve the audio situation already and give a baseline.
- from there adjust the audio profile manually according to your needs (e.g. lower the bass, amplify the mid)

RE: HOWTO Kodi with Equalizer on LinuxMint 20.1 - azaha - 2023-05-25

thank you, I will get started today and keep you posted.

as to the speakers, I tried a lot over the years from aluminum cast Sony, over wood case Yamaha, some quite good Infinity and more.
I made a home cinema setup with curved Philips stereo speakers, so on the two seating positions you have your own 2 rear chanels (5.1 setup) and I always enjoyed to put a powerful sub under the seats to make you feel the rumble in your body.
Home cinema on the room sized screen was my passion since the 1980th (remember the 3 tube beamers we had on the airplanes? I had on of these at home.