radio-pad

A 🎵 radio station player 🎵 with real-time syncing controllers.

overview

• the radio-pad player runs on a host, such as a raspberry pi, connected to a stereo/speakers.
• controllers, such as a USB-connected macropad, request the station to play.
• stations are configurable.

local control

radio-pad lets you use a USB-connected macropad as a controller for playing internet radio stations on your computer (such as a Raspberry Pi).

• each Macropad button is mapped to a different station.
• the encoder knob adjusts volume if a station is playing, or switches station pages if there are more than 12 stations.
• pressing the encoder knob will stop playing.

remote control

radio-pad is optionally controlled through a switchboard of connected clients, such as mobile apps or web browsers.

• clients and the radio-pad player connect to the switchboard to request and broadcast station changes.
• the switchboard can run on the local network, or as an internet available service.
• websockets are used for real-time syncing of clients, such as updating the currently playing station.

getting started

there are four components that makeup radio-pad. each is broken out into a folder which may become a git repository. visit this folder for details/installation/use.

• the player, this runs on a host and defines stations.
• the macropad-control, this connects to the host over USB.
• the switchboard, this is optional and needed to support remote-control.
• the remote-control, used to create mobile and web clients for controlling the player.

Development

Reference

flowchart TD
    %% Nodes
    Macropad["Macropad Controller"]
    Player["Player<br/>🎵🎵🎵"]
    Switchboard["Switchboard<br/>(Syncs Player and Controls)"]
    RemoteMobile["Remote Controller<br/>(Mobile App)"]
    RemoteWeb["Remote Controller<br/>(Web App)"]

    %% Connections
    Macropad <-- USB --> Player
    Player -- ws:station_playing --> Switchboard
    Switchboard -- ws:station_request --> Player
    Switchboard -- ws:station_playing --> RemoteMobile
    Switchboard -- ws:station_playing --> RemoteWeb
    RemoteMobile -- ws:station_request --> Switchboard
    RemoteWeb -- ws:station_request --> Switchboard

    %% Highlight Player and Switchboard
    style Player stroke:#f9f,stroke-width:3px
    style Switchboard stroke:#bbf,stroke-width:3px

Contributing

Pull requests and bug reports are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a PR.

Support

For questions or help, please open an issue on the GitHub repository.

TODO

• use MIDI control sequences or usb-cdc instead of keypresses for radio control. this is necessary to support bi-directial communication, e.g. to notify macropad of station changes from remote controls.
• pass the list of stations to macropad (via usb connection) and controllers (via switchboard). we can thus handle live station updates, as well as defer startup until communication with the player has been established.