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[WolfAudioSystems]

I am not sure where this should be posted as it is happening on ALL of the tablet apps, but I suspect that it is the server causing the issue.

So, in my previous post Multiple DAC's - best methods for switching between them using a tablet http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=101168.0      I discussed the best way to send music through different zones to different DAC's.  With a bit of a bumpy road, I got it working, but now I am running into an issue where the album I last played in a Zone is getting stuck there. 

For example, I move to the Parasound Audio zone to listen to something, and switch back to the Ayre Audio Zone, and choose a new album, but the album that was last there pops up on the tablet and plays away.  I can stop, switch to another track within that album, but I can't make it go away and play different Artists/Albums.

I went into JRiver on the computer and cleared the album out, but it came back as soon as I picked the tablet back up and started clicking.  This same behaviour happens with JRemote, Gizmo, EOS and I am out of ideas?  Has anyone else seen this behaviour?  Have i missed something?

[blgentry]

Are you still using both MC20 and MC21 at the same time with the remote?  I ask because that's somewhat unusual and might influence things.  Or have you gotten both DACs set up under one version of MC and using regular old zones?

Brian.

[WolfAudioSystems]

Nope, that was too cumbersome.  MC21 only.

[mattkhan]

This might be similar to an issue I'm having whereby theatre view is "stuck" in playing now - http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=101162.msg701943

[WolfAudioSystems]

Yes, I looked at your post and there were some similarities, though I am not using the WDM driver (it is disabled).  I have disassembled my zones and removed one of the DAC's temporarily to get back to basics, so right  now I just have these zones:

Ayre Audio - Zone Switch rules: Anything but DSD and SACD - 2 channels Stereo
Ayre DSD - Zone Switch rules: Anything DSD or SACD - DSD DoP x2

Somehow in unplugging and getting rid of the Parasound Zones (which were identical in nature to Ayre, but for Parasound's SPDIF driver output and 4x Native DSD & Bitstreaming)  the issue stopped.  I will update this post when I get a chance to plug the Parasound back in, re-create the zones and see what happens.  I should have a better step by step analysis of each stage.

[blgentry]

I just played with this using Gizmo against two zones on my system.  My testing seemed to go normally:  No "stuck" albums.  As soon as I click on an album, it replaces the currently playing album in the zone I'm controlling.

I wonder if the zone switch rules are playing a part here?  Further, I wonder how you can set up rules for 2 file types, but have 4 zones.  For example, if you play DSD, how does your zone switch figure out whether to send it to Ayre DSD, or Parasound DSD?  I'm not sure how this would work.  But I'm assuming that you're trying to do a specific DSD zone on *each* DAC, and you didn't say if you were or not.

I'll be curious to hear the results of your further testing.

Brian.

[mwillems]

I just played with this using Gizmo against two zones on my system.  My testing seemed to go normally:  No "stuck" albums.  As soon as I click on an album, it replaces the currently playing album in the zone I'm controlling.

I wonder if the zone switch rules are playing a part here?  Further, I wonder how you can set up rules for 2 file types, but have 4 zones.  For example, if you play DSD, how does your zone switch figure out whether to send it to Ayre DSD, or Parasound DSD?  I'm not sure how this would work.  But I'm assuming that you're trying to do a specific DSD zone on *each* DAC, and you didn't say if you were or not.

I'll be curious to hear the results of your further testing.

Brian.

Potentially related to this issue, but the way to route audio with zoneswitch in this case is to make four rules setting up two mutually exclusive pairs.  i.e. one rule routing all DSD to the Ayre-DSD zone that stops playback in the Ayre-Normal zone (and no other zones), and then a rule that routes all non-DSD to the Ayre-Normal that stops playback in the Ayre-DSD zone (and no other zones).  You'd then setup two identical rules for the Parasound that only reference the Parasound zones.  For example, I have a headphone output and a speaker output and I need two zones for each to route multi-channel vs. stereo content.  I have two headphone zones with mutually exclusive rules and two speaker zones with mutually exclsuive rules that are identical except for the zones referenced.  To switch between them I pick either zone in the other pair and press play on an album.

Currently mutual stop playback rules create a "closed loop" so if you selected either Ayre zone and sent audio to it would get routed correctly, and ditto with the Parasound.  If you just play something, it will get routed between the pair for the device that was last used (i.e. the active zone).  

A key limitation of the current zoneswitch logic is that you can't setup this kind of arrangement to actually automatically stop playback on the second DAC's zones from the first DAC's zones (because mutual stop playback rules create a routing relationship, which would make it impossible to write working rules). So you need to manually stop playback in one zone and then start in the other, or teach your mixing board/receiver to figure it out somehow.

[WolfAudioSystems]

I do believe the ZoneSwitch rules are coming into play here, and to speak to Brian and mwillems questions at the same time, it was necessary to stop audio playback with the tablet, then select the next zone we wanted to play to, and make our next music choice.  Same way for JRemote and EOS.  Problem was, whatever we had initially selected to play in that Zone (any of the 4 zones) stuck there.

So mwillems, if I am reading your response correctly, I need to set the zones to not stop playback on the current DAC when switching to the next DAC?  Only when switching zones on the same DAC?  Is that the gist of it?

[mwillems]

So mwillems, if I am reading your response correctly, I need to set the zones to not stop playback on the current DAC when switching to the next DAC?  Only when switching zones on the same DAC?  Is that the gist of it?

If you want the zoneswitch logic to work correctly you probably want mutual stop playback rules between zones targeting the same DAC (i.e. Ayre DSD stops Ayre Standard and vice versa, but neither stop any Parasound sounds, etc.).

I don't think mucked up rules should've caused the issue you're reporting, but it will be necessary for the setup to work smoothly eventually.  It may be related, or it may not.

[WolfAudioSystems]

I just wanted to drop back in here and note that we never successfully got this implemented.  I am not sure if the tablet app (Android) was the culprit for leaving albums stuck in playing now and never making the call to updating the playlist, but in the course of all of this troubleshooting, one thought that came to mind was this:  Can a playlist or smartlist be hardcoded to a specific Zone?  If so, if anyone could point me to the doc on it, I would certainly appreciate that. If not, I wonder if this is a feature that could be implemented in the future? 

[blgentry]

^ You can set up a Zone Switch rule that keys on almost any property of a song that engages that particular zone.  One of the properties is Playlist. 

I just tested it and it will definitely play a certain playlist to a certain zone.  Zone switch gets a tiny bit tricky with turning off other zones and ordering the rules, but I'm pretty sure it can be done as you're expecting.

Brian.