How To

Note: this will be edited during the next few weeks.

Hello! If you're an LSDJ user and want to create mobile music using a Raspberry Pi with the same kind of sequencing format, you've downloaded the right program!

Here's how to get things going with patience and with minimal issues.

Note: I have not tested this method with Raspbian Jessi or on a Pi 3. To be safe, please only attempt this method on a Pi 2 or Pi 1B+ with Raspbian Stretch.

1. Install the Raspbian Stretch 2018-04-18 OS:
http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/images/raspbian-2018-04-19/

2. Do a sudo apt-get update and
sudo apt-get upgrade in the terminal

3. Install pulseaudio

sudo apt-get install pulseaudio

(Stretch uses the bluez-alsa package to make Bluetooth audio work with ALSA itself. PulseAudio is therefore no longer installed by default)

4. Add USB soundcard and change the settings by typing:

sudo nano /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf

Look for the following two lines

defaults.ctl.card 0
defaults.pcm.card 0

Change both “0” to “1”

Also go ahead and make sure the next two lines look like this:

defaults.pcm.device -1
defaults.pcm.subdevice -1

 After all this, save the file.

5. Edit pulseaudio settings by typing:

sudo nano /etc/pulse/default.pa

Look this set of lines:

.ifexists module-udev-detect.so
load-module module-udev-detect

Change this by adding the tsched=0 parameter so it looks like this:

.ifexists module-udev-detect.so
load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0

6. While still editing /etc/pulse/default.pa , find and remove this line:

load-module module-suspend-on-idle.

This is the important as it prevents PulseAudio from sending the audio hardware to sleep.

7. Edit the Pi's config file by typing:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

Add audio_pwm_mode=2 after the last line of text and save the file.

8. Create a folder and extract the contents of this zip to the root of it. Go to the bin folder and run this command:

chmod +x lgpt.rpi-exe
(Note: using the ghetto build from littlegptracker.com won't work in Raspbian Stretch. Use the version included in this zip file or build the executable here:

https://github.com/Mdashdotdashn/LittleGPTracker

please ask around the LGPT Facebook group or chipmusic.org if this is a problem as I've only been able to do this once years ago).

To run LGPT in the terminal, use this command:

sudo ./lgpt.rpi-exe -AUDIOBUFFER=64 (change the number to something higher to lower  if there are glitches) -AUDIODEVICE=hw:USB $* (use this if you have a USB card attached) -FULLSCREEN=YES (this parts optional)

Optional things to do:

- make changes to the config.xml file to change interface covers, ensure proper buffer settings and audio device settings
- add a game controller and make button changes to the mapping.xml file
- change the "screenmulti" settings depending on the monitor or pi screen you'll be using
- pimp your pi out with a case
- create a boot script (make sure you backup your pi image first).

Troubleshooting:

I'm not very good at troubleshooting, but I will provide these tips to help avoid problems:
- use a USB soundcard with a CM108 chipset (I've had buffer troubles with soundcards that have other soundchips)
- you may need to boot the pi several times before getting the pi to officially find the USB soundcard
- use a Logitech controller. Those things are awesome #justsayin
- for some monitors and pi displays, console terminal booting directly into LGPT either automatically or with commands will result in a blank screen. To be safe, run LGPT from the terminal after booting into the Raspbian GUI (or visual desktop)
- make sure you're using a brand name SD card that's at least 16 GB
- do a "sudo alsamixer" to ensure your soundcard is the selected device (a regular alsamixer command may not work well)
- chmod 777 your config.txt file to ensure changes take effect

And there you have it, that is how you run LGPT in Raspbian Stretch. Have fun!

Disclaimer: I, Lazy Nerd 204, do not own Little Piggy Tracker. This software is created by Marc Nostromo who originally developed it for the Caanoo console which is sold outside of the US and Canada. It runs most commonly on a PC, Mac, and PlayStation Portable in North America.

If you have any questions or comments or suggestions, send me an email at lazynerd204[AT]outlook.com