Install and setup of a streaming server under Windows

Install

You need these three free programs:

1. Winamp 5.0 Lite (music player). http://www.winamp.com
2. Oddcast (sound source plugin to Winamp). http://www.oddsock.org/tools/
   Oddcast is only for Windows. See 3^rd party applications at icast2 site for Linux alternative.
3. Icecast (sound server) http://www.icecast.org/

Install the applications in the same order as this list. Use default options during installation.

Setup

In Winamp press ctrl+P and you enter Winamp preferences. Under Plug-ins DSP/Effects you should see Oddcast as plugin in Winamp. Oddcast start up as a separate window when you start Winamp.

Oddcast looks like this. It tries to connect to streaming server (Icecast), so you have to start the Icecast Server. When the streaming server is up running there should be a transfer rate around 100 Kbps.

Oddcast

The decoder used is Vorbis, quality level is set to 5, sample rate is 44100 Hz. Source is Line In. By clicking on the microphone picture you can change source back to what Winamp is playing. The microphone picture then change, with a red cross on top.

Highlight Vorbis .. encoder. Right click and choose configure. Then the configuration window appear:

Oddcast setup

These settings must match settings on Icecast radio server. In YP Settings disable Public Server. In advanced settings do not save archive of stream.

Icecast is a standalone program. The main window starts the server. Check for start server at application startup.

Icecast main window

Stop the server and choose Configuration on the menu. A text file is opened. The setup of Icecast is defined in a xml file. Here is a copy of it, after I have changed it.

<!-- This config file contains a minimal set of configurable parameters,

and mostly just contains the things you need to change. We created

this for those who got scared away from the rather large and heavily

commented icecast.xml.dist file. -->

<icecast>

<limits>

<sources>2</sources>

</limits>

<authentication>

<source-password>test53</source-password>

<relay-password>test53</relay-password>

<admin-user>admin</admin-user>

<admin-password>test53</admin-password>

</authentication>

<directory>

<yp-url-timeout>15</yp-url-timeout>

<yp-url>http://dir.xiph.org/cgi-bin/yp-cgi</yp-url>

</directory>

<hostname>localhost</hostname>

<listen-socket>

<port>8000</port>

</listen-socket>

<fileserve>1</fileserve>

<paths>

<logdir>./logs</logdir>

<webroot>./web</webroot>

<adminroot>./admin</adminroot>

</paths>

<logging>

<accesslog>access.log</accesslog>

<errorlog>error.log</errorlog>

<loglevel>3</loglevel> <!-- 4 Debug, 3 Info, 2 Warn, 1 Error -->

</logging>

<security>

<chroot>0</chroot>

</security>

</icecast>

NB! The encoder password of Oddcast must match the source-password of Icecast.

Also the hostname and server port must be the same for the two programs. And sources of Icecast must match channels of Oddcast

Listening to the streaming server

In another PC start e.g. Winamp, choose add URL of your radio station. For example:

http://129.177.55.115:8000/stream.ogg when ip of the streaming server is 129.177.55.115 and you use port 8000.

It will not work with Internet Explorer, it will start downloading as if it was a file to save on your computer. You can probably change the MIME settings of your browser so that .ogg is recognised as a sound file.

Volume Control and Recording Control in Windows

In Windows there is a volume control icon on the lower right corner of the screen. The icon looks like a loudspeaker. Here you change volume of the play back of sound. Choosing Options | Properties and entering Recording Control you can select the sound source and volume of if.

Ishmael, bio acoustics software

The sound input source to Ishmael is determined by the Recording mixer setting.

In Windows Recording Control select stereo mix as sound source.

….

JO, 24 May 2005

University of Bergen

Dept. of Earth Science

Allé gt. 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway