Hand Held Remote control for Roon?

Hi,

I’m pretty new to Roon, having set up an Intel NUC10i5 as my core almost 6 months and, touch wood, I’ve had no problems with it at all and I really enjoy the Roon experience. I have a Headphone set up using a Stack Audio Link II network bridge, Chord Qutest DAC and an Auris Euterpe headphone amp. Roon is controlled via Samsung tablet.

I would like to know if there is any way to use a very simple hand held remote control to change tracks forwards or backwards and maybe stop/pause (something like the old Apple TV remote perhaps, although I do have an unused Harmony remote that presumably could be programmed)? Nothing more than that, no volume control needed.

I’ve read a few things about Roon extensions on these pages but I’m not very computer savvy and I have to admit I wasn’t quite sure if something was actually available or not (and even if it was, if I would be capable of implementing it).

Any help would be much appreciated - I know it might sound silly but I tend to listen in near darkness (extremely relaxed !) and I really dislike having to stare at a tablet screen (even in night mode) if I want to change a track…which makes me less likely to listen to Roon radio and/or experiment more with new music suggestions.

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I just set up rooDial for the first time this week, and I absolutely love it. Can’t believe that I didn’t do this sooner. It’s perfect for your use case of listening in near darkness…even better than a remote control because you don’t have to feel around for buttons, etc.

You can get a sense of what’s possible here:

John is talking about the more expensive Numio dial (~$270). I’m using the Microsoft Surface Dial (~$75) and could not be happier. Software is ~$12/year with a lifetime option if you prefer.

If you don’t require volume control, the dial can be mapped to seek forward/back in the track instead.

Here’s a list of some of the settings (for rooDial):

I think you have to use one of these dials to appreciate this approach but the experience is so much better than fiddling with my phone, tablet, or remote control that I’ll never go back.

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If you want a very simple solution, I use an Android phone. It does all of the basics and a great deal more.

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Ropieee on a Raspberry Pi 3/4b and OSMC remote works great, it RF so non directional and affordable too.

Sounds like something like rooDial would be perfect for you.
There is a Harmony remote interface though but it is along thread which links to other related threads:

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Roodial comes down to cost (hardware and license too) and the dials are not exactly cheap…a RPi is required on most cases but at least with Roodial a RPi ZeroW will suffice.

Ropieee.org on the other hand is free (tho please do donate :wink: to Harry) and OSMC remotes are cheap too, plus you can add a display and case and have whats playing while you are it.

And just for transparency I have 2 OSMC, more than 10 Ropieee zones (5 with displays) and one RooDial too.

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Unfortunately Logitech have discontinued all there remotes now. They will continue to work but for how long is anyones guess. I use one to control my 2nd zone and works brilliantly thanks to this extension.

I believe the stack Audio link runs Ropieee these days so plugging in the OSMC usb remote might work on it.

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That is the 2nd product by Logitech that I own that has been discontinued by them. First was Squeezebox/Slim Server now this. I won’t be buying any more of their products.

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Raspberry Pi 4 + Display (optional) running RoPieeeXL + FLIRC USB + Harmony Companion or Elite. Easy cake :wink: I have two of these and they totally work.

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The remote for my streamer will skip tracks. Roon evidently respects when the streamer says “next track”.

I run my Roon Server on a MAC Mini, could the software for this Volume knob work in sync be installed there?

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This
image
… and this


… working to control ROON functions as well as my USB-DAC separately…

Had it running in conjunction with Ropieee, DietPi and now directly with my windows Roon server…

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FLIRC could do with updating that website. It lists something as ‘coming soon’ in 2017.

:face_with_hand_over_mouth:
face_with_hand_over_mouth (10 characters)

Every product I’ve ever purchased has been discontinued.

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Very cool! They also support 3dConnexion controllers which I have a few of, in addition to Surface Dial. I can make use out of all of them. Thanks for mentioning this otherwise I’d have never known rooExtend existed!

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If you have the dial / remote hardware this is def worth a shot. I really like my M$ Dial but not sure would want more than that…the OSMC on Ropieee or FLIRC one work well too but the FLIRC is infrared directional.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post, i’m very grateful for the input.

In the end i took the advice of a few people who recommended the MS Dial, and i ordered the relevant bits over the past few days (mostly eBay & saving a good few quid - but good job i’m single as i’d hate to have to justify this cost to a partner - for what is essentially a device that saves me opening my eyes while i’m listening to music !!!).

I’ve already flashed the SD card and just need the Raspberry Pi to arrive later today before i put it all together…so far so good though - it’s straight forward enough for someone with my limited level of computer skills (assuming nothing goes wrong from here).

Thanks again everyone.

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Very quick update. I’ve had the MS dial / RooDial / Raspberry Pi in use for a week now and it’s been flawless. Easy to put together, the hardest part was getting the Raspberry Pi on my network (i’m useless with networks so not a surprise, but even then it was 10 -15 extra mins of Googling to sort it).

I’m only using it to skip and/or pause tracks, no volume control but it’s exactly what i wanted, albeit an expensive enough way to achieve it. Would definitely recommend.

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I use to judge every piece of stereo gear by how good the Volume knob feels…with digital volume, those days are gone. I guess I was too late to get a Sonos Volume control that offered the feel of the good ol days and was remote control as well.

Glad you found a solution that works for you!