Am I the only one who thinks Roon Radio isn't so great now

Roon Software Discussion
104

Not sure if user feedback on Roon Radio is still relevant. I had stopped using it some time ago as the results pointed to an inability to understand non-mainstream genres. I gave it a go again recently for times where I was wondering around the house and not actively sitting and taking 100% notice - it seems to do a much better job of keeping to a sub-genre, albeit a little repetitively. A few more tries and repetitive nature of the artists it would pick was bothering me so I let Roon Radio play for 100 tracks and here’s the results.
Seed was the Faith No More album Angel Dust, played from beginning to end and then letting Roon Radio take over. The first four tracks were from unique artists before Faith No More plays again. Then nine unique artists are played. Then a non-unique, another repeat, then another. Below is a written history: unique artists occur on the same line, comma-separated. Non-unique are followed by a double colon and new line is started. To me it felt repetitive to listen to. There are 29 unique artists out of the 100 tracks played. Some artists appear only once (Jerry Cantrell, Mr Bungle, Soul Fly, Filter and Primus, a total of 5%). At the other end if we look at the 5 most played we have Faith No More (8 plays), Alice in Chains (7 plays), Deftones (7 plays), Rage Against the Machine (8 plays), Pantera (7 plays). This is a total of 37% given to just 5 artists.

In total, artist are repeated 73% of the time in this single small sample.

I thought I’d try with Tracey Chapman (self titled) this morning and see how it does a classic. After the last track faded out, I was blasted by Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit!

Seed: Faith No More - Angel Dust
Marilyn Manson, Alice in Chains, Korn, Deftones::
Faith No More, Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine, Helmet, Pantera, Red Hot Chili Peppers, System of a Down, Mastadon, Sepultura, Nine Inch Nails::
Marilyn Manson::
Alice in Chains::
Faith No More::
Korn, Tool::
Rage Against the Machine::
Deftones, Suicidal Tendencies::
Soundgarden, Rollins Band::
Pantera, Slayer, Ministry, Megadeth::
Sepultura::
Faith No More::
Alice in Chains::
Korn::
Tool::
Rage Against the Machine::
Deftones, Machine Head::
Rage Against the Machine::
Deftones::
Pantera::
Alice in Chains::
Faith No More::
Tool::
Soundgarden, Helmet::
Marilyn Manson::
System of a Down::
Sepultura, A Perfect Circle::
Red Hot Chili Peppers::
Mastadon::
Rollins Band::
Rage Against the Machine::
Faith No More, Jerry Cantrell::
Pantera::
Deftones::
Tool::
Nine Inch Nails::
Marilyn Manson::
Soundgarden::
Alice in Chains::
Korn::
Sepultura::
Helmet::
Rage Against the Machine::
Faith No More::
Ministry::
Pantera::
Deftones, Gojira, Megadeth::
Alice in Chains::
Korn::
Sepultura, Mr. Bungle::
Rage Against the Machine::
Faith No More::
Machine Head::
Pantera::
Deftones::
Tool::
Soundgarden, Primus::
System of a Down, Filter::
Korn::
Helmet::
Alice in Chains, Soulfly::
Faith No More::
Mastadon::
Tool::
Rollins Band::
Rage Against the Machine::
Red Hot Chili Peppers::
Pantera::
Suicidal Tendencies::
Soundgarden
Gojira

1 Like
105

I tried the same in Tidal using the first track to create radio, 100 tracks and Faith No Moore appeared 6 times.

106

Impressive work.

107

My wife and I tried to use the Radio feature four times yesterday, but it wasn’t very enlightening, and we didn’t hear anything we wanted to favorite. The last one we tried was starting Radio on The Cranberries thinking there must be a well-established algorithm for such a deep catalogue band and plenty of different bands from that era. The fourth track played was the same song as the first track played but from a different album. We gave up and just shuffled our local library instead.

I don’t know if anything has changed software wise, but I used to use Radio last summer and discovered all sorts of interesting things. Therefore I don’t know if Radio isn’t great now, but I sure don’t enjoy using it any more.

108

I tried the Radio feature for the first time today. It was fine, the only thing I would want is for the song name and artist to be displayed, if playing Radio music.

109

The naming is confusing but you were, I think, listening to internet radio. This is about the music that roon plays through its own algorithm.

110

Oh yeah, you are right. I got it now. The Radio feature of Roon is ok, works better when I tie it to a service like Tidal. Not so great when disconnected from streaming services. Does a terrible job of using local music.

111

Yes the local library Onlyy algorithm is old hat compared to the expanded version.

112

I started this thread way back and must say since the last software revision, I am happy with Radio again. Finding lots of new music off Tidal and Qobuz. Not sure why you aren’t having the same results.

113

Yes works great when you link Tidal or Qobuz to Roon. Not so great as standalone. But that’s ok, I know the focus now is on streaming. I guess I am just an old dinosaur, like my local music collection. I setup a Plex music server and I noticed that does a better job of the Radio feature. Switching back and forth is not a big deal, can’t have everything.

114

Radio is by far my favorite roon feature but it is a bit hit and miss. I find Classical a complete disaster, for example. But on the other hand I often get really good results with more contemporary pop/rock material. Often I start with a roon or Qobuz recommendation I just wouldn’t have thought of or I was unfamiliar with.

Out of curiosity I also tried seeding a 1992 Cranberries track. 5th track was another 1992 Cranberries track but what really surprised me was how closely the other picks were vaguely “alternative/indie” either side of 1992. It wasn’t unpleasant. It certainly maintained a mood, just would have preferred radio to jump out into something more contemporary as well. More recent bands perhaps that claim influences from the bands either side of 1992 that radio was picking.

Made me wonder just how closely roon tracks community preferences on radio? I actually find myself dissapointed when I seed with “classic” pop/rock material, most of which I have in my local library anyway. I much prefer seeding with more contemporary material from Qobuz I am unfamiliar with and don’t have locally.

115

I came to this thread as, in my limited experience, Roon only seems to delve into 3, max 4 albums to form a ‘radio station’ from my library, (I don’t have tidal or qobuz) based on the last song played in your playlist. This is just not good enough, I have hundreds of albums to get into… example
Last song: The River by Springsteen
radio station albums: Bowie, BB King, U2 and Lenny Kravitz - nothing else and I have been playing for hours as a test. Maybe they should poach someone from Spotify, they’ve nailed the radio functionality.

1 Like
116

I am the one who started this thread a few months back. With the latest software update things have changed for the better. I do subscribe to both Tidal and Qobuz and I would guess the radio list usually plays about 15 different artists. In terms of the vastness of the worlds collection of music, its not awesome, but I hope it will get better still. As it stands I have added about 8 recordings in the last week because of radio. Thats a win for me.

1 Like
117

Apples and Oranges. Bas does not have any streaming subscriptions and is playing only from his local library. So, the Roon Radio logic used between you both is different.