MP3 streaming?

[Emrak]

Hey all,

We use FG2 as the VTT and Skype for voice. Has anyone figured out how to stream MP3s online? A low-bandwidth MP3 server perhaps?

[Zeus]

I use SyrenScape and Soundboard to play the music/sounds and then use JackPilot to route the two apps audio output into a Skype conference or Mumble session.

The setup works well for me and my groups (I host my FGII games from an iMac) and allows me to mix background music, audio cues and sound effects into the VoIP conference. It took me one session with the groups to get the right balance and mix levels (note: Mumble offers better quality than Skype BUT can sometimes be quite fiddly to setup) but the effort was worth it. Adding background ambient music helps set the tone and mood and the audio cues and sound effects (my favourites at the moment include using the Announcer voice from the Unreal Tournament games during combat encounters) help bring some light heartedness to the games not to mention help with immersion.

JackPilot is the key for routing the audio output of the two .mp3/.ogg players into the audio input of the VoIP platform. However, I believe JackPilot is only available on Mac OS X, on Windows, something like Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) would work as an equivalent.

[Emrak]

Thanks for the awesome input! I was hoping to avoid the Skype stream due to quality issues (I think it only transmits sound in low-quality mono?) and was trying to shoot for at least 128kbps...but I will probably go your route, if only for simplicity's sake. Don't want to make the poor players jump through more hoops.

[Trenloe]

Seems like there's at least 2 threads going on this at the moment:

Music in FG

Check my couple of posts - I use MP3 streaming through Broadwave. It's a seperate link to give to your players, but I find it works well.

I use MorphVOXPro for voice morphing and sound effects directly through Skype (using Virtual Audio Cable as mentioned by DrZ).

[unerwünscht]

I would just like to take a moment and point out that the average mp3 is what? 4 meg? Try loading a new 4 meg map every 3-8 minutes in Fantasy Grounds and sharing it with your gaming group. You will quickly come to see why this could be a big issue.

[Trenloe]

I would just like to take a moment and point out that the average mp3 is what? 4 meg? Try loading a new 4 meg map every 3-8 minutes in Fantasy Grounds and sharing it with your gaming group. You will quickly come to see why this could be a big issue.

You make a very good point - this is why we are looking at streaming the audio, not sharing a large file all at once. I stream MP3 music constantly for my sessions (usually 5 hours) using the app I mention in my other posts (Broadwave). This compresses the audio and has quality settings to control how good (or bad) it is.

In the end, it will all depend on the upload speed of the host (mine is currently 1330kbps) and the download speed of the clients (most are much more than my upload speed).

So, I'd say, give it a go with your own setup. If it works - great! If not, reduce the quality and if it still doesn't work, look at other options...

[Zeus]

I would just like to take a moment and point out that the average mp3 is what? 4 meg? Try loading a new 4 meg map every 3-8 minutes in Fantasy Grounds and sharing it with your gaming group. You will quickly come to see why this could be a big issue.

Yes, its for this reason I broadcast from the server and mix down into the VoIP channel as opposed to sending the .mp3/.wav/.ogg files to the clients.

I guess it will also depend upon number of clients, hosts upload bandwidth etc. etc. I have tested my setup with 8 clients on my 5Mb upload and I haven't had an issue so far (touch wood).

[unerwünscht]

Yes, I agree streaming is one thing, but I think the way Fantasy Grounds interacts with Data Transfer Protocols would dictate that it would need to send the entire file at once and not stream it.

I think the best option is to use other applications for audio and/or video if you find it needed for your games. Sending through Fantasy Grounds would just add one more thing that it has to send, slowing its functionality.

[Trenloe]

Yes, I agree streaming is one thing, but I think the way Fantasy Grounds interacts with Data Transfer Protocols would dictate that it would need to send the entire file at once and not stream it.

I think the best option is to use other applications for audio and/or video if you find it needed for your games. Sending through Fantasy Grounds would just add one more thing that it has to send, slowing its functionality.

I think we're all on the same page here - we weren't actually discussing/requesting music playing within FG, we were discussing application options outside of Fantasy Grounds.

I agree with you - don't mess around with the core of Fantasy Grounds data transfer protocols and network access - keep it doing what it does well and then use other third party apps for voice (skype, teamspeak, ventrillo, mumble, etc) and have another app for music and/or sound effects and either mix these together with the GM microphone input (using something like Jack Pilot or Virtual Audio Cable) and send down the voice path or have seperate streaming for music outside of the voice path.

[unerwünscht]

Oh...I misunderstood completely. That's what I get for only reading the first and last sentence of every paragraph. Damn the school system in my area.

https://www.raidcall.com/ works very well from my experience, and with easy configuration of your sound settings you can stream mp3s quite well.