Can we keep it simple?

[Dave Kestrel]

I am looking for a very simple interface with Wiim. Not that I have problems, but my wife just does not want to go through several menu items when she wants to listen to an album. Yes, we are old fashioned and still listen to albums, play-list, what is that!

Setting up radio stations in the Wiim Home App is OK. Just select the one or two stations – for everyday use a couple of stations is OK, specials can always be selected in TuneIn or wherever – add them to favourites and to the buttons on the remote.

But doing the same for the nearly 500 albums on the NAS I have not able to achieve.

The system we have is simple, a WiiM Ultra driving a valve amp in the living room (which I built in about 1969) and a WiiM Amp driving a couple of KEFs for the kitchen. Internet via a Fritzbox 7582, storage on a Synology 220+ (all albums in flac and correctly tagged with artist, genre etc.), everything connected via ethernet cables and during the day with WLAN, my wife wants it off during the night. The two Wiims form one group and basically never need to be separated.

The easiest way to find music is to go to Genre and select the artist and then the album I want to listen to. This actually worked on Sonos (I recently swapped from Sonos to Wiim because of major problems with the Sonos software) but on Wiim I get an alphabetical list of tracks which is of course completely useless. I can save the genre “Blues” to a favourite in the Wiim Home app but as above this simply gets an alphabetical list.

I have tried various software’s and apps but cannot seem to find something which works.

The MininServer is installed on the Synology.

I have tried DS Audio where I can get to - genre – artist – album, but I have to select the player and cannot select the group of two Wiims, just either living room or kitchen.

BubbleUPnP does the same and shows a list of artists and the albums but only finds the living room and does not stop the music playing when I start an album.

Symfonium refuses to find the directory with the music on the NAS.

OK so I am a bit frustrated! That which was no longer possible on Sonos works easily and fast on Wiim and that which worked on Sonos (when it worked!) seems to be difficult on Wiim. OK as you may have appreciated, I am no longer as young as I once was, and it is possible that I am missing something simple. It seems to me that everything should go through one app, preferably the Wiim Home app as otherwise it seems one loses the grouping. Or is the directory where the music is saved on the NAS causing problems (/volume1/music/Musik-flac)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Dave

 

[d6jg]

I’m sure Minimserver can present you with a list of albums rather than tracks but I’m no expert. Ask @simbun

 

[Burnside]

Using just the WiiM app, I can select Home Music Share, Minimserver , Genre, Folk rock (for example), Albums to get a list of relevant albums, or Artist then Albums. I can even bookmark/star the genres I want so that they appear under Home Music Share/Bookmarks to save a step or two.

I don’t recall having to do anything specific to get that, but I’d need to check my Minimserver settings to be sure. Again, @simbun to the rescue

Edit: my indexTags parameter under my Minimserver’s settings is “Artist, Date, Genre, All Artists, Composer, Conductor, Orchestra, #AudioData:Quality, #AudioFormat:Format, #AudioChannels:Channels, *RecentAdded, *RecentPlayed”. Maybe that needs a similar entry for your Minimserver.

 

[simbun]

The easiest way to find music is to go to Genre and select the artist and then the album I want to listen to. This actually worked on Sonos (I recently swapped from Sonos to Wiim because of major problems with the Sonos software) but on Wiim I get an alphabetical list of tracks which is of course completely useless. I can save the genre “Blues” to a favourite in the Wiim Home app but as above this simply gets an alphabetical list.

Assuming that you're browsing MinimServer and not USB Input, I think this means that you made the mistake of accepting/choosing "Advanced" browsing mode when first selecting MinimServer from the WiiM app. To switch back to Legacy mode, browse to the Home Music Share screen and select MinimServer, then select the vertical ellipsis in the top right corner of the screen and select 'Switch to Legacy Mode'.

I have tried DS Audio where I can get to - genre – artist – album, but I have to select the player and cannot select the group of two Wiims, just either living room or kitchen.

BubbleUPnP does the same and shows a list of artists and the albums but only finds the living room and does not stop the music playing when I start an album.

I don't own multiple WiiMs but I thought with the introduction of Persistent Groups that you should indeed see a third option that represents the grouping of the two speakers, could someone confirm that please?

I'm not sure why you're seeing both speakers in DS Audio but only one in BubbleUPnP, especially with both installed on the same device.

 

[Burnside]

I don't own multiple WiiMs, but I thought with the introduction of Persistent Groups that you should indeed see a third option that represents the grouping of the two speakers, could someone confirm that please?

I'm not sure why you're seeing both speakers in DS Audio but only one in BubbleUPnP, especially with both installed on the same device.

I don’t believe persistent groups appear outside the WiiM Home app as targets, so I wouldn’t expect any other app to see them.

 

[simbun]

I have tried DS Audio where I can get to - genre – artist – album, but I have to select the player and cannot select the group of two Wiims, just either living room or kitchen.

It sounds like you're not going to see groups from third-party control points, so just link the WiiMs instead (via the chain icon) and try playing to each in turn. If they work anything like Sonos you'll need to play to the master, otherwise you'll only hear audio from the one speaker.

 

[jetson]

I am looking for a very simple interface with Wiim. Not that I have problems, but my wife just does not want to go through several menu items when she wants to listen to an album. Yes, we are old fashioned and still listen to albums, play-list, what is that!

Setting up radio stations in the Wiim Home App is OK. Just select the one or two stations – for everyday use a couple of stations is OK, specials can always be selected in TuneIn or wherever – add them to favourites and to the buttons on the remote.

But doing the same for the nearly 500 albums on the NAS I have not able to achieve.

The system we have is simple, a WiiM Ultra driving a valve amp in the living room (which I built in about 1969) and a WiiM Amp driving a couple of KEFs for the kitchen. Internet via a Fritzbox 7582, storage on a Synology 220+ (all albums in flac and correctly tagged with artist, genre etc.), everything connected via ethernet cables and during the day with WLAN, my wife wants it off during the night. The two Wiims form one group and basically never need to be separated.

The easiest way to find music is to go to Genre and select the artist and then the album I want to listen to. This actually worked on Sonos (I recently swapped from Sonos to Wiim because of major problems with the Sonos software) but on Wiim I get an alphabetical list of tracks which is of course completely useless. I can save the genre “Blues” to a favourite in the Wiim Home app but as above this simply gets an alphabetical list.

I have tried various software’s and apps but cannot seem to find something which works.

The MininServer is installed on the Synology.

I have tried DS Audio where I can get to - genre – artist – album, but I have to select the player and cannot select the group of two Wiims, just either living room or kitchen.

BubbleUPnP does the same and shows a list of artists and the albums but only finds the living room and does not stop the music playing when I start an album.

Symfonium refuses to find the directory with the music on the NAS.

OK so I am a bit frustrated! That which was no longer possible on Sonos works easily and fast on Wiim and that which worked on Sonos (when it worked!) seems to be difficult on Wiim. OK as you may have appreciated, I am no longer as young as I once was, and it is possible that I am missing something simple. It seems to me that everything should go through one app, preferably the Wiim Home app as otherwise it seems one loses the grouping. Or is the directory where the music is saved on the NAS causing problems (/volume1/music/Musik-flac)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Dave

I use Asset UPnP on my synology NAS with playback on my WiiM Ultra and it's fantastic, it does everything you want and more.

 

[adias]

Using just the WiiM app, I can select Home Music Share, Minimserver , Genre, Folk rock (for example), Albums to get a list of relevant albums, or Artist then Albums. I can even bookmark/star the genres I want so that they appear under Home Music Share/Bookmarks to save a step or two.

I don’t recall having to do anything specific to get that, but I’d need to check my Minimserver settings to be sure. Again, @simbun to the rescue

Edit: my indexTags parameter under my Minimserver’s settings is “Artist, Date, Genre, All Artists, Composer, Conductor, Orchestra, #AudioData:Quality, #AudioFormat:Format, #AudioChannels:Channels, *RecentAdded, *RecentPlayed”. Maybe that needs a similar entry for your Minimserver.

I concur. Most source selections can be made on WHA Favorites.

 

[Bastiaan]

I am looking for a very simple interface with Wiim. Not that I have problems, but my wife just does not want to go through several menu items when she wants to listen to an album. Yes, we are old fashioned and still listen to albums, play-list, what is that!

Setting up radio stations in the Wiim Home App is OK. Just select the one or two stations – for everyday use a couple of stations is OK, specials can always be selected in TuneIn or wherever – add them to favourites and to the buttons on the remote.

But doing the same for the nearly 500 albums on the NAS I have not able to achieve.

The system we have is simple, a WiiM Ultra driving a valve amp in the living room (which I built in about 1969) and a WiiM Amp driving a couple of KEFs for the kitchen. Internet via a Fritzbox 7582, storage on a Synology 220+ (all albums in flac and correctly tagged with artist, genre etc.), everything connected via ethernet cables and during the day with WLAN, my wife wants it off during the night. The two Wiims form one group and basically never need to be separated.

The easiest way to find music is to go to Genre and select the artist and then the album I want to listen to. This actually worked on Sonos (I recently swapped from Sonos to Wiim because of major problems with the Sonos software) but on Wiim I get an alphabetical list of tracks which is of course completely useless. I can save the genre “Blues” to a favourite in the Wiim Home app but as above this simply gets an alphabetical list.

I have tried various software’s and apps but cannot seem to find something which works.

The MininServer is installed on the Synology.

I have tried DS Audio where I can get to - genre – artist – album, but I have to select the player and cannot select the group of two Wiims, just either living room or kitchen.

BubbleUPnP does the same and shows a list of artists and the albums but only finds the living room and does not stop the music playing when I start an album.

Symfonium refuses to find the directory with the music on the NAS.

OK so I am a bit frustrated! That which was no longer possible on Sonos works easily and fast on Wiim and that which worked on Sonos (when it worked!) seems to be difficult on Wiim. OK as you may have appreciated, I am no longer as young as I once was, and it is possible that I am missing something simple. It seems to me that everything should go through one app, preferably the Wiim Home app as otherwise it seems one loses the grouping. Or is the directory where the music is saved on the NAS causing problems (/volume1/music/Musik-flac)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Dave

'but on Wiim I get an alphabetical list of tracks which is of course completely useless'

I completely agree with this! IF you want to show the tracks, then a position after the albums would be much better.

 

[simbun]

I completely agree with this! IF you want to show the tracks, then a position after the albums would be much better.

Unless you wanted to play a random selection from that genre of course.

This is where MinimServer's Intelligent Browsing is useful, because after every selection you're able to choose between album/track view or to further refine your selection e.g. Live releases.

 

[anonyless]

you're already using Symfonium,
why not install Navidrome on your NAS?

How to Install Navidrome on Your Synology NAS

Trustworthy expert guide to your Synology NAS.

mariushosting.com

 

[Dave Kestrel]

Thanks to everyone, at least here I get reasonable suggestions and comments!
The response from simbun sounds sensible so MinimServer would seem to be a good way to go but!
In advanced mode I can select a genre and then it asks if I want to see all artists. OK! On this screen it asks also if I want to add a preset but the preset from the favorites page just plays the last track in this genre and does not show artists or anything else.
I legacy mode I can also select genre and then artists but cannot put anything into presets. All I seem to get are stars to click on but which seem to do nothing.
If I could just add a preset which took me straight to MinimServer - Genre that would certainly solve my problem.
As burnside says "I don’t believe persistent groups appear outside the WiiM Home app" so it does seem I need to find a way of achieving my goal with the Wiim Home app, other apps are not going to playback the group.
Are other servers on the Synology NAS so much better? I have suggestions for Navidrome and Asset UPnP but I really do not know if they are much better than MinimServer.
Is there a problem with the MinimServer on the Synology, did I not set it up correctly on the Synology? I have uprated the licence from a starter to a trial version so I have more possibilities but I do not see anthing which is obviously missing.

 

[simbun]

In advanced mode I can select a genre and then it asks if I want to see all artists. OK! On this screen it asks also if I want to add a preset but the preset from the favorites page just plays the last track in this genre and does not show artists or anything else.

As I understand it Presets are playable items, they're not shortcuts to locations in the browse hierarchy.

I legacy mode I can also select genre and then artists but cannot put anything into presets. All I seem to get are stars to click on but which seem to do nothing.
If I could just add a preset which took me straight to MinimServer - Genre that would certainly solve my problem.

The stars create bookmarks which are accessible from Home 'Music Share > Virtual Folder > Bookmarks', though you can't bookmark a top level index (an app limitation).

As burnside says "I don’t believe persistent groups appear outside the WiiM Home app" so it does seem I need to find a way of achieving my goal with the Wiim Home app, other apps are not going to playback the group.

Did you try my earlier suggestion? You should defintely be able to play to groups from third-party apps.

It sounds like you're not going to see groups from third-party control points, so just link the WiiMs instead (via the chain icon) and try playing to each in turn. If they work anything like Sonos you'll need to play to the master, otherwise you'll only hear audio from the one speaker.

Are other servers on the Synology NAS so much better? I have suggestions for Navidrome and Asset UPnP but I really do not know if they are much better than MinimServer.

The issues you're having are due to the limited functionality of the WiiM app itself, not the server. I use MinimServer and I think it's one of the best UPnP Servers available, though other non-UPnP Servers offer more possibilities (I also use Lightweight Music Server with Symfonium).