Audio Streaming

All about audio streaming in Sinespace.

Audio Source - What audio can be streamed and where from?

This could be some software on your PC or tablet or phone. It could also be an external music player such as an iPod or a record player with it’s output going to your PC’s Line-In socket. So long as Windows is playing it then that’s what will be streamed.

Typically a DJ would use VirtualDJ software. This is free for non-commercial use.

That’s covered briefly how to play the audio.

The Streaming Software - So, we currently have our songs playing but what else do we need?

Something needs to convert it to a true MP3 radio stream and then send it up to the internet. This is where software such as WinAmp comes in. WinAmp should be set to “Soundcard Input”.

The other software needed is a DSP Shoutcast plugin, that converts the audio to be shoutcast compatible.

The DSP Plugin runs inside WinAmp, so install both - they are both free to use.

The Radio Stream Host.

So we’re sending sound up to the internet, but where do we send it?

For this you will need to either use a free service (not recommended) or a paid service for a shoutcast radio stream. There are a few pieces of configuration information that you will get from here. This info will need to be entered into the DSP plugin above.

Crucially this will be login information to connect from your audio source (your PC’s sound) to your stream and the settings you need to play your stream in Sinespace.

The Radio Stream Player - How do I get it to play in Sinespace?

There are a number of ways. Firstly the ability to set your own region to a specific stream is now built into the viewer. Secondly, you might elect to just buy a furniture prop from the in-world shop that is a radio stream player. Third option would be to actually script your own radio player inside Unity using our SDK and making your own. Format of MP3 stream URL. The general rule is:-

Stream ip address : port number such as 203.432.32.345:7589

203.432.32.345 is the IP address and

7589 is the port number

Separated by a single colon. (:).

Sometimes the url supplied by the radio streaming company might not always conform with our players but we can usually find a way around that by restructuring the URL.