[ mute ] : Simple Raspi Audio / MPD Dashboard

[ mute ] is a simple dashboard program for setting up a "RaspberryPi Audio Player" using MPD (Music Player Daemon) and a RaspberryPi.

This program is installed on your RaspberryPi and used as a web app that you control from a browser on a tablet or PC on the same network. The key feature is that this web app is "just" for RaspberryPi audio setup, and does not do any music browsing or playback control. This is a major difference from other raspberry audio distributions such as Volumio and moOde. For song browsing and playback control, you use a combination of MPD client apps installed on your mobile device or PC (e.g. yaMPC for iOS).

Why release such a half-baked product?

Because an all-in-one audio distribution does not always have the latest MPD available. Also, because we want to run the Raspi simply as a network audio server and enjoy music with the MPD client application.

If you try to install MPD manually and play sound, you will need a lot of knowledge and skills about Linux OS, commands, and various settings of MPD, and the hurdle of introduction will become higher at once. And you end up having to use the MPD client application to operate a multifunctional audio distribution that is supposed to be complete by itself...

So, let's make something that can easily build a "plain MPD audio server," and this is how [ mute ] was born.

[ mute ] ver.1.10.0 download

Please download the setting file from the link below and follow the instructions below to install [ mute ]. Feedback would be appreciated if you could send it to us using the contact form at the end of this page.

*Bookworm is now supported! The location where the installer is stored is different from the legacy OS. Please check the installation guide below.

(What's new)

- Bugfix: mpdscribble setting / Other Setting Tab

- Bugfix: In some cases, I2S DAC cannot be loaded on RaspberryPi5

- Revised: mute update scripts : Change update data from DropBox to GitHub

- Revised: Show DB Update dialog before NAS mount / Source Volume Tab

- New: Host sources and packages on GitHub

- New: Show the notification badges on sidebar (reboot required, update available)

- New: Web Radio list Tab [alfa-release]

- Update: Web Radio List description / About Tab

Step 1: Create RaspberryPi OS media (SD card) 

Use RaspberryPi Imager to create RaspberryPi OS OS media.

OS: RaspberryPi OS Lite (32bit/64bit)

　*The latest MPD installation is only compatible with 32-bit OS.

Storage: SD card 8GB or more

Options: 1) Enable SSH, 2) Turn off SD card unmounting at the end of writing

Step 2: Copy "mute_setting" to OS media

Extract (unzip) the file downloaded from the link above to create the "mute_setting" folder. Copy the entire folder to the top level "/boot" of the OS media.

* In some cases, the file is extracted at the same time it is downloaded.

Step 3 : Set OS media in RaspberryPi and boot

Load the OS media into the RaspberryPi and turn it on.

Once the RaspberryPi has booted, access it via SSH from a PC terminal software or similar. Access using the username and password you set up earlier when creating the OS media.

　ssh <username>@<hostname>.local
　Example: ssh pi@raspberrypi.local

and then enter your password.

Step 4 : Connect to RaspberryPi via SSH and enter installation commands

Once you are connected via SSH, enter the following command; .

For the latest OS (Bookworm): cd /boot/firmware/mute_setting && . /install_mute.sh

For legacy OS: cd /boot/mute_setting && . /install_mute.sh

(Caution!) Please note that the location where the installer is stored differs depending on the legacy OS version.

An installation shell will be launched. Type "Y" or enter to execute the installation. Installation will begin.

Step 5 : Access RaspberryPi with a browser on your PC or tablet

After rebooting, access " xxxx.local " written in the last message of Step 4 with a web browser on your PC or tablet. If you see a screen similar to the one below, the [ mute ] installation was successful. Welcome.

[ mute ] Menu

Menu 1：Installing MPD（Musin Player Daemon）

Why is MPD ( Music Player Daemon ) not installed beforehand? It is because the MPD usually installed in RaspberryPi OS is not the latest version.

The stable version of MPD ( Music Player Daemon ) for RaspberryPi OS is not the latest version of MPD, and the MPD project treats it as "too old to be supported".  In [ mute ], you can choose to install either the latest official MPD version (Backports) or the official stable version (Stable) of the RaspberryPi OS. Both versions take a little time (around 10 minutes) to install. A little patience.

* I don't recommend it because I haven't tested it properly, but advanced users can compile and use their favorite MPD. It will probably be fine.

Menu 2：RaspberryPi OS

In this tab, you can configure the host name, password, time zone, WiFi, etc. If the RaspberryPi OS Imager has been configured when creating the OS media, there is no configuration work that needs to be done when installing [ mute ].

At the same time, you can check the status of the RaspberryPi board model name, CPU temperature, and RaspberryPi OS version. This menu is also accessed when powering off or rebooting.

Menu 3：Sound Device

Configure sound devices such as DAC HAT and USB DAC.

The sound driver is ALSA, which does not support PulseAudio, and USB DACs are automatically recognized when connected, but DAC HATs connected via I2S using the RasberryPi's GPIO port are not automatically recognized and must be registered here.

Once registered, the "Sound Check" button allows you to check the sound device's sound output. This test can be done even before the MPD is set up, and is useful for a quick check to see if the DAC is connected properly.

Menu 4：Source Volume

Register the NAS where the music library is stored; if the NAS is successfully mounted, [ mute ] will automatically create a symbolic link to the /music directory of the MPD. If not, check the SMB version. In most cases, "vers=1.0" option should work.

NAS can be multiple registered, also the USB stick supports multiple auto-mounts.

Menu 5：MPD

Here is the MPD setup for your enjoyment. After a successful installation, you will be able to see various configuration items. In particular, the ability to directly change the Decoder Plugin settings is a unique feature not found in other distributions; there is no need to directly open and rewrite mpd.conf via SSH to change the playback of AAC data to ffmpeg instead of faad.

In addition, restarting MPD, updating the Music Database, etc. are also handled here.

Note : After setting up NAS or USB in Source Volume in Menu 4, be sure to run Update DB.

Menu 6：Other Settings

Here you can configure the following settings

- Last.fm settings 

You can access Last.fm, a site for sharing played songs, and upload information on played songs. A Lasr.fm account is required in advance.

- Obtaining cover art images from music files (FLAC, ALAC, AAC)

Use the "getcover" program by yaMPC developer Yasuyuki Suzuki to extract and save the cover art image from the music file.

- Copy [hostname] and [cover art server name] for MPD client configuration

Copy the hostname and cover art server (URL) needed for setting up MPD clients such as yaMPC. It is very useful for the simple.

- Toggle dark mode/light mode

Dark mode is turned on by default.

Menu 7：Update

Look for updates to the RaspberryPi OS if available, you can run the update.

*The mute update is currently unavailable due to a change in the link specification of the data host destination (DxxpBxx thing).

After setting up: Operating with the MPD Client

As mentioned at the beginning, [ mute ] is a dashboard application for the MPD audio server, and a separate MPD client is required for song browsing and playback operations.

There are various MPD clients available, but I recommend "yaMPC" for iOS first.

Because it's the app for which I'm responsible for the UI design! Best regards!

Until [ mute ].

[ mute ] is a program implementation of the content "Installing MPD" from Open Audio Lab, the developer of yaMPC, an MPD client app for iOS. We hope you will also refer to this content.

The original idea was to make it possible for as many people as possible to use yaMPC, but to use it in combination with moOde or volumio would be a total disaster because of the duplication of functions, and building your own MPD server would be quite a hurdle. This application was started in 2020 as a "promotion measure for the spread of yaMPC".

Therefore, this application is free and open to the public.

[ mute ] is coded with CGI using the Bash shell command and run on a lightweight web server, Lighttpd (Lighty) The UI design is built using HTML and CSS (and a little bit of Javascript) I was completely new to Bash, HTML and CSS. I was a complete beginner in Bash, HTML, and CSS, so it took me a long time to get it right.

There are many theories about the origin of the name, such as that it is a silent state before sound is played, that it is named after the record label mute records, or that it is from William Gibson's "Neuromancer's" AI Fuyun-sora (Winter Mute).

Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Yasuyuki Suzuki, the developer of yaMPC, for his advice and support in the development of this project, including alpha testing.