Try cmus if you are comfortable doing it from the command line. You get a tui for managing it but it can also be scripted. https://cmus.github.io/ It can be managed remote so you can do it from a remote terminal too. So you don’t have to dj from the box itself but instead run headless. Try it out and see if it plays your songs. Thanks, Aaron > On Apr 30, 2019, at 12:13 AM, Victor Odhner wrote: > > A computer I built, dedicated to play music in church, is muting pieces of the music. It used to run smoothly. > > Can someone suggest a more stable music-playing distro of Linux, and/or a better play-list manager? > > Requirements; > Maintain my mp3 library and manage play-lists. > Build a play-list for an event. Play each song on cue, and stop when done. > Play a video program to a separate port (video projector), but not simultaneously with playing music. > > I had used Clementine for managing and playing the music. > Now music is not always played smoothly: some segments are muted, and an occasional “rogue” note is played out of place. > I have tried different tests, switched some hardware, but I think my problem is software. > > The problem: Clementine has served us well for about a year. > Now, when I play a song, it mutes the first five seconds of the song! > > A few songs work well, consistently. For a few other songs I get the first beat of the song, then it plays the next five seconds silently, then turns the sound back on. Every now and then, just a beat or two is replaced by a rogue note from the same song; those are not reproducible. > > Clementine has a feature where we can mark the last song in a group, but now that is broken too: it stops at the end of the marked song, but spits out one beat of the next song! > > Status: I am desparate. > I could try to update from Mint 18 to 19. > I thought Linux wouldn’t jerk me around like Windows does. Maybe the wrong distro? > Does PulseAudio have something to do with this? Should I use JACK? > I could try AV Linux — it’s 32bit not 64, but is supposed to be extremely stable with rich audio repositories. > I could try KX Studio — supposedly very stable, with frequent tested updates of audio tools. > > I could switch to (gasp!) windows since I’m the only Linux geek in the organization. Help me to be strong! > > The problem is not just with Clementine. > I tested with some other software: > * Rhythmbox plays well, with the occasional injection of a rogue note. > * Media Player seems to run well, and SM Player & MPV likewise. But these aren’t good for managing play lists. > * VLC sputters along continually in a sort of motorboat pattern. You can hear the song faintly, with bits of the song alternating with muted moments several times a second. > * I tried Audacity for an extra “player” test: I used it as the “open with” choice for a song. As it launched, it made a nasty scratching noise that I have not learned before. But then when I hit the play button it rendered the song nicely, like Media Player etc. > > In my research I’ve found discussions of earlier troubles in Mint, with scratching noises and stuff. Mine seems different. > > Does this sound like > > Computer Configuration: > Intel Celeron CPU G3930 800.048 MHZ > MOBO Gigabyte H110M-M2-CF > Audio HDA-INTEL PCH, USB Audio CODEC > CODEC REALTEC ALC887-VD > HDA Intel PCH Line Out ALSA Driver Ver K4.10.0-38-generic > (Audio is fed from USB port to a Behringer U-Control adapter, then to the Mackie mixer board.) > MINT 18.3 (MATE 1.18.2 Metacity Marco) > x86_64 Linux - OS Release 4.10.0-36 generic > Memory: 8 GB. > > Thanks for any suggestion you might have for me. > Victor Odhner > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss