Nuvo Music Port Virtualization

[felixrosbergen]

I have started this thread to document my experiment with virtualizing the Nuvo Music Port.

The reason for this experiment is to test if the Music Port and it software will run in a virtual environment. Currently i have it running on my main Home Automation server along with a while bunch of other app and services and it seems the Music Port frequently 'breaks' (doesn't do what it is supposed to do in some sort of way) likely due to updates on other pieces of software, windows updates or whatever. Generally i have really hard time figuring out what caused it to no work anymore and have had to revert to previous images of my server to get it working again.

If the MP software (actually the Media Control Server (MCS) by Autonomics) can run as a virtual machine then that virtual machine could run on the same main Home Automation server but wouldn't be subject to a lot of changes and thus hopefully be more stable.

So far I have done the following steps:
1) Purchase a USB Audio device so that it can be 'passed through' to the Virtual Machine (VM). I got the SoundBlaster X-FI for $60 or so at BestBuy, also available at NewEgg here.

2) Installed Sun VirtualBox (FREE) on my main server (the 'host' in virtualization speak). The host run XP with Service Pack 3 (32 bit).

3) Configured an Virtual Machine and installed XP with SP3 (32bit) as the Guest OS. ( I assigned 512MB of RAM to it as first guess). I disabled Automatic Windows Updates.

4) Followed VirtualBox (VBox) directions and get the USB Audio device working/reconized inside the Guest OS. This was a bit of a hassle, but not too bad.

5) Installed the latest version of the Nuvo MCS v2.5.5024.99

6) I have the Music Port Serial Port connection via a Ethernet Serial Server QuadTech. Installed the drivers for this and the MCS picked up the virtual COM port right away.


ISSUES:
So far all is something working, including the WEBUI and keypads connected, etc. The following issues have occurred:

A) When playing music through the MP the CPU load on the Host OS get's very high. The Host machine is runs an Intel E8500 C2D 3.2ghz and one of the cores goes over 50% when playing. When the Music Port is running directly inside the Host OS the CPU barely registers any increase when playing music.

B) When playing music there is an occasional (a few times per song) distortion and the music will slow down sometimes. I think issue B is related to issue A.


NEXT STEPS:
1) Install the Creative Sounblaster drivers in the Guest OS to see if this improves. So far i've only run with the drivers that windows installed automatically when the USB device was plugged in.

2) Play with the VirtualBox setting (ram, etc) to see if i can get performance to get better

3) Run the USB device directly attached to the Host OS to see if CPU load gets high under that configuration too (i have never had USB audio devices before) to see if this is a virtualization issue or maybe just a USB device/driver issue. I believe i read online somewhere that others were having CPU issues with this device even while not running in virtual environment). If this isn't a virtualization issue but a device issue i may return it and try a different device.

CONCLUSION:
So far i am hopeful about this project. It has gone smoother so far than i had anticipated. I have made a snapshot at each step in VBox so that i can revert if needed.

 

[felixrosbergen]

So... in the Guest OS the CPU load is about 10% when playing the music (somewhat as one would expect). But in the Host it's 54% which drops to 12% when the music is stopped. Haven't installed the Creative Drivers yet though.

 

[felixrosbergen]

To try and resolve the high CPU usage i tried to install the OEM drivers for the USB audio device. This has f'ed up my VM pretty good and it now bluescreens frequently....so much for using BETA drivers i guess.

I did some forum browsing and googling and the high CPU usage is apparently a known issue. Some have succesfully kicked it with certain drivers..

I'll give it another try by getting some different drivers. If not i may return the device and try something else.

Besides the high CPU and slight audio quality issues (likely to be related) the concept of this does seem to work.

Has anybody use a different external USB 5.1 Audio device that they can recommend?

 

[felixrosbergen]

Well....that Createve X-fi USB unit is going back to the store. I tried a bunch of different drivers for it....but it causes constant issues (hang, bluescreens, etc).

Now i am on the hunt for a new 5.1 USB sounds device..i found some on NewEgg but they're looking pretty poor. Any suggestions?

 

[swaggy]

Hey MavRic,

I virtualized my MusicPort server on a VMWare ESXi server. With ESXi you can "pass-through" on-board devices directly to the VM so I am doing just that for the on-board Intel HD audio. I am also using a USB to Serial converter (Prolific I think) for control. So far the control part seems to be working fine but my audio playback has some static....since other sources play fine on these speakers, it is something related to my Musicport setup but I haven't quite figured it out yet. I should mention this is my first attempt at getting the MusicPort setup, I have not tried it on a dedicated PC. I am also using the latest software from Autonomic Controls.

 

[felixrosbergen]

ok...so i decided to try this experiment again in an effort to properly virtualize the Music Port.

I'm still looking to do this with VirtualBox since i'm not familiar with ESXi.

I got a different set of USB audio adapters '$10 C-media units from NewEgg'. I didn't have the BSOD issue i had with the SB Audigy device, but the same CPU issues occured. The guest OS seems fine, the host OS CPU load goes very high when actively playing audio, stays a bit high when a media player is open but not playing, and goes normal if a media player is closed. I didn't even install the Media Control Server, since it was obvious the same problem was occuring.

After doing more reading online this seems to be a long standing and common issue people are experiencing with Virtualbox.

I would consider using ESXi, but since that sit's above the OS layer it's kind of an all or nothing solution and i'm not quite ready to do that yet with my only home server.

I did use the most current version of virtualbox, etc.

There doesn't seem to be a fix for this at the current time.

 

[gravymaker]

Thanks for sharing this, MavRic - I just stumbled onto your thread.

I was very interesting in tryting to isolate / virtualize the MCS processes for the exact same reasons as yourself. I hate having to reboot the entire HTPC (which takes quite awhile now, due to all the various processes running, including MCS.)

I had planned to investiagte it myself but I had some licensing concerns for Windows & Girder that might be showstopppers.

Anyway - thanks for putting the info out there, your results are encouraging.

 

[swaggy]

I would be interested in hearing what others have found with their attempt to virtualize the MP server. I pretty much gave up on my end and concluded my issue was hardware specific to the VMWare server. Note that I did not try a USB sound device but rather mapped an on-board sound card to the MP VM.

 

[wendydawson]

Nice one.

 

[msudawg]

I would be interested in hearing what others have found with their attempt to virtualize the MP server. I pretty much gave up on my end and concluded my issue was hardware specific to the VMWare server. Note that I did not try a USB sound device but rather mapped an on-board sound card to the MP VM.

sorry for off-topic post here..... new member attempting to contact swaggy about recent post in classifieds for NV-MP. The system won't let me reply to that post nor will it let me use the PM system. Not sure if it's b/c i have completely new profile, some other reason, or maybe I'm just missing something obvious. Anyway, sorry all but this is only way I could come up with to attempt to contact swaggy. if you read this, swaggy, i'm interested in your NV-MP if you still have it.