I want to try Zynthian before purchasing one. I have an rpi 5 with 7 inch portable touchscreen, a USB MIDISport 2x2 interface from midiman and an rPi soundcard HAT I got from Amazon I got this time last year entitled “Raspberry Pi Audio Ampilifier 2x40W Class D HiFi AMP Pro Hat featuring 48KHz/24bit MA12070P support Volumio, Max2Play, Raspbian, Bluetooth Streaming Home Stereo Receiver” - its based on the infineon MA12070P chipset
I would rather not have to go out and buy any new hardware. Can these components work with Zynthian? If so what configurations? If not what does everyone suggest as a low cost base build to get me started.
I think you have most of what you need. You only need one audio interface, you can use the hat or the usb one. You’ll have to work out amp, speakers. Getting it all working under Raspian would be a good way to start.
Depending on what you’d like to try you might need a midi keyboard. The Akai APC Key25 mk2 is well supported by Zynthian and costs about $100.
I’ve built successful Amplifier Zynthian combinations using the HiFiBerry 40W Amps. and they are very successful. I use them for sound effects for son et lumeire productions.
You probably want some way of doing encoders and generally a MCP23107 board is recommended for this.
The real issue will be the mechanical construction of it all, and make sure you have a decent ( Pi officlal) PSU, although this AMP looks as thou it does the same trick powering the Pi from the AMP board.
You have all the parts to build a good DIY zynthian.
RPi5 - works well. Flash the latest zynthian image to a good quality uSD card of size between 32GB and 128GB.
You don’t mention what “7” touchscreen” you have. it is likely to work and configuration depends on its type, connection, etc. “Portable” suggests it may be HDMI in which case the display should just work (if plugged into the correct micro HDMI outlet). USB touch may also work out-of-the-box. If not, you can use webconf to select an appropriate device.
USB MIDI Sport 2x2 will work. I have one of these and, although it is not “Class Compliant”, the required driver is installed on zynthian.
The audio hat should work but may required selecting, or maybe configuring in webconf. Zynthian will not start until a working soundcard is configured. It attempts to autodect during first boot but may need some user intervention in webconf. There is now an option in webconf to select a detected soundcard, rather than selecting from the list of known working cards. This may help avoid the manual (command line) step that @wyleu describes.
The hardware you describe should give you a working device. Select “Touch” in the top right of the wiki guide to show how to use touch-only UI.
Card 0, The Audio HDMI audio out.
Card 1, the crappy headphone output on the Pi
and
Card2 My hifiberry device. . .
With your card plugged in, you need to see something akin to this before you can go forward.
There will be a reason.
It’s just a matter of puzzling it out, unless of course the card is dead. . .
Don’t rule that possibility out, People plug in the wrong power supply, that sort of thing. especially if you’ve sourced it from the dark under belly of the INternet, but things generally work if treated in the correct fashion, and we can test for wether or not it’s a viable device.
Because the Pi is powered from the Audio Card via the barrel plug, did that work? presumably that is how you set it up to try it?
And this is the result of the Autodetect mechanism described ( and probably written by) @riban….
Hi @riban that didnt work. No show on the AMP hat detection. I got a light on the card. But nothing when i run aplay -l as @wyleu suggested. What next?
Does the Pi start up? Basically does the green light flicker as it starts . . .?
The light on the card is presumably a power confirmation LED? That’s a good sign in that it means there isn’t a dead short or anything catastrophic like that.
What voltage does the power supply you are plugging into the audio AMP say it has ?
Hi @riban . I think i am making progress. I simplified things by unplugging the midiman midisport 2x2. I think power is the issue given the AMP hat is going to need decent power and I am not sure I have the right power supply for it.
I am now getting the following output when running aplay -l →
Cool! You should be able to select the device in the Audio menu of webconf. You are possible right about power. Zynthian needs a RPi to be powered well. Many issues have been resolved by using a good PSU with thick cable and a good connector. Inline switches are a source of trouble. How are you powering it?
I just bought this from Amazon:
24V 4A Power Supply Adapter - COLM AC 100-240V 50/60HZ DC 24 Volt 4 Amp 96W Power Adapter Converter Transformer Charger 4amp Transformers 24V/4A Interface 5.5mm x 2.5mm UK Cord for LED Strip Light
Very possible.
A few years ago I had a Hifiberry Amp (the first version) on a RPi with a USB drive. Nothing but trouble. After a lot of trying I finally cut off the 5V GPIO pin on the RPi and powered the Amp and the Pi separately. All problems solved at once.
The PSU chip can blow on them. I’ve had it happen on the amp card that mounts above the audio processor.
There is a scummy trick you can use to check this which is power only the Pi using an official Pi5 Type C Pi Power supply. The 5 itself needs a fair current and the power supply in the amp might not be able to manage or worse still may have given up the ghost.
Generally not too good an idea to plug them both in. . .
Interestingly the Amazon Add doesn’t include the Pi5 in it’s list of appropriate machines. . . .
