Amazon Echo devices to control the Roon server with voice commands

BTW, my hub came with 2 IR “blasters” which are wired IR transmitters. I’ve never had a problem with the Harmony system, it just seems to flood the room with IR

We’ll see! I ordered the two pieces of hardware (Flirc and Harmony hub).

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Steve, I hate to keep bothering you. My Harmony Hub and my Flirc just came in. I have gone to the remote control tab in the Ropieee XL control panel and have confirmed that Flirc is the remote control. I assume the “Roon Control Zone” is every separate device to be controlled, separated by spaces? (I have Raspberry Pi devices all over the house - only one with a touch screen; The one with the touch screen is where I’ve plugged in the Flirc; the Harmony Hub is sitting right next to it.) Do I need to set up the Harmony Hub using the Harmony App? Or is the Flirc automatically set up with the Harmony Hub? Next, the Alexa Harmony skill set up. If I don’t add any device with the Harmony app (not the Alexa skill) the Alexa skill won’t work. So, what device should I tell the Harmony app I am adding? Is it an entertainment device, home control, or computer? If I use the Harmony App to scan for devices it finds my Amazon Fire TV and my Yamaha amplifier, neither of which do I intend to control with this new Harmony Hub. If it is an “entertainment device,” what is the manufacturer name and model number? “Home control” offers various manufacturer’s products - none of which are remotely like Raspberry or HiFi Berry or Ropieee or Flirc. “Computer” offers Windows, Mac, or Other. With “computer / other” I get either the the error “hub sync failed” or “Bluetooth pairing” - device not paired.

Sure would like to get this thing working. Hope you can help.

Hi Ronald- No worries, hopefully I can help- It think I went in to the Harmony app and added “Flirc Media Player”, at least that’s what shows up on the app. That allowed the hub to talk to the Flirc. The zone name in Ropieee is the zone you want to control. I don’t think you can control more than one- but I’m not sure.

I think when I connected the Flirc dongle, Ropieee picked it up and I don’t remember having to install anything else on the pi, but it has been a while since I got it all setup.

Select “Entertainment Device” in the “Add Device” screen. Enter “ Flirc ” to the “Manufacturer name” and “Kodi” to the “Model number” in the “Entertainment Device” screen. Press “Add” to complete the configuration. Now, you can see “ Flirc Media Player ” in the “Devices” list.

From:

Zone name must match exactly the zone name you have defined in Roon.
Also remember you have to enable the RoPieee Remote extension in Roon
Also, this thread may help: How to set up a FLIRC remote with Ropieee XL?

Ropieee Remote extension is enabled. The Touch Screen device that I’ve plugged the Flirc into is only a controller for other devices - it does not power any amps of its own. You said the logitech device (the Hub in my case) is automatically configured with Flirc, and I need not apply any profile in the Flirc app, is that correct? The Zones I currently have set up in the Ropieee XL remote control tab are “Kitchen Dining Library Living All.” These all correspond to different Roon Zones. The setting “All” is a Roon Zone with all the other named zones grouped into it. Is this the right way to do this? Does that mean the Flirc can control any of these zones, or will that just confuse the Flirc?

I think Ropieee can only control one zone. The zone name in Ropieee must match some zone defined in Roon exactly.

You do have to install the device in the Harmony app- see above. Also remember to install the Ropieee extension if you haven’t already, in Roon settings.

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I can’t believe it, but everything seems to have gotten installed - all the way through the Alexa App. Now for what I hope are my final questions: What commands can I give to Alexa and how do I phrase them?

🤷🏻 Ha! I don’t know, I don’t use Alexa! I just know that Alexa can talk to the Harmony hub somehow. You probably have to name the device or something and call it by that name, not sure

https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/harmony-experience-with-amazon-alexa

Sure hope this hasn’t been a dead end… All I want is to be able to use Alexa voice commands to control aspects of Roon. Just “louder,” “pause,” and “next track” would be worthwhile. Seems like Roon isn’t going to provide this functionality - at least not at any time soon - so I am willing to try anything at a reasonable cost. I have no need for yet another physical remote control.

Should I have used the Flirc program to encode it with the Kodi profile?

That’s the device type I used. I think you would need to create actions in Harmony and then tell Alexa to do that action. As far as volume control, I don’t think ropieee can control that, not sure

I thought somebody here said that Flirc automatically “knew” the harmony configuration. I’ll try putting that profile on the dongle.

Larry_Post, I’ve gotten all the hardware installed. What do I tell Alexa to do? I have the Harmony skill enabled.

First you have to find out what Alexa names your activities- I like to add aliases that I like such as ‘stereo’ or ‘2 channel’

I presume you have deep harmony working with the remote already, if not, you must get this working first

Then play with Alexa

I have no remote - just the hub. I do not need a remote - just want to be able to have voice commands to Roon.

Has anyone reading this actually used the Deep Harmony extension, a Harmony Hub, and a FLIRC as a way to obtain some control over Roon using Alexa voice commands? In other words, is there anyone who can give me some assurance that once I’ve learned all my lessons and done everything I’m supposed to do that I will actually be able to use Alexa voice commands to control some aspect of Roon? If so, what voice commands will be available for this purpose?

Do I actually need the Harmony Hub hardware at all? I’ll never use a physical Harmony remote control- just want to have the ability to use voice commands with Alexa.

Sorry to hear you’re still having problems-

I’ll point out the Logitech page for this again:
https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/harmony-experience-with-amazon-alexa

Did you create an activity to do the function you are interested in? (Step 3 in those instructions)

Basically, you need to be able to use the Harmony app to do whatever it is you want. Then you can get Alexa to start that particular activity. When you create the activity, you can specify a start sequence. You should probably have the start sequence contain the device (Flirc) and execute the appropriate command. For example, under the Flirc device, there is a long list of functions that can be executed.

It is enabled and linked. What activity do I create? I’m NOT looking to play Roon over my Alexa devices. I only want Alexa to control my stereo (which uses Roon).
I’m sending back the FLIRC and the Harmony Hub. They really do nothing at all (since I have no Harmony remote, and I don’t intend to get one).