@mediver99
Using CoRE, I used the same virtual switch as the previous solution. However, now the switch is a trigger for a CoRE piston. When the switch is on, then “Using Living Room Speaker, Play”; when it is off, :“Using Living Room Speaker, Pause”.
I ended up going a different route than CoRE. I installed the AskAlexa app, and using that, I managed to gain additional controls that a simple switch couldn’t provide. In its natural state, Alexa can only control lights and switches. Using AskAlexa you gain the controls for the device based on its type (Speaker, Light, etc).
With AskAlexa, I can now Play, Pause, Skip. It supposedly also supports volume (and in fact, it responds saying it set the volume), but the volume doesn’t change. I’m not sure why that is, and I hope to ask the Ask Alexa folks if they have a solution to the problem. It takes a bit more effort to install and get AskAlexa working, but the instructions are pretty thorough, so if you are technologically adept, I recommend it.
I’m also using the Alexa App to control my multi-room speakers. I can control the speaker volume to a point but find I still need to either go to the speaker to adjust volume to high levels or crank the volume via the Samsung Multiroom App. Kind of a pain but I figure they’ll work it out.
The bigger bummer for me is that I don’t have this functionality for the Google Home I purchased to play around with.
@cribbsjy I say, “Alexa, Lower” or “Alexa, Louder” and it just works. I also found out that when I opened the Alexa app on my phone, whatever was currently playing showed up the bottom with a speaker icon that I could use to adjust the volume “manually”.
@phatfield do you have more than 1 Samsung Wireless Speaker grouped? Previously, I could only get what you described working if I used the bluetooth connection from the dot to a single speaker, but it would not work on grouped speakers.
The solutions I am trying/looking for involve turning multiple speakers on/off, and changing their volumes.
It has to be said again the Samsung SmartThings integration with the Samsung speakers is just embarrassing, they’ve both been out over 2 years now.
Why it’s up to us users to investigate ways to get some kind of modern fluency between these two platforms run by the same company is beyond me.
I’m missing being able to control the speaker volume, as CoRE can’t do it, all CoRE can do is play, pause, mute and unmute, with another 30 options missing.
I have however finally found a way to play some of my favourite TuneIn radio stations triggered with virtual switches, as the Multi Room app only gives you 3 Alarms, this is progress.
Next I’ll do the mood cube with 6 radio presets, which will be easier to operate than going through the phone app each time.
But volume control would be nice, for all the speakers in the group.
Sorry to be the newbee here but I am trying to learn. I have AskAlexa installed and (according to the app connected to my speakers) so how do I get Alexa to play the music and skip songs? What is the setup or voice command?
You have to have music queued on the speakers, like in Samsung multiroom app with Pandora paused. Then you can say "Alexa, tell Smartthings to play " or "alexa, tell Smartthings to skip track on "
@cribbsjy I can only connect a Dot to a single speaker. Because of the bluetooth connection I haven’t figured out a way to group them (seems like there should be a way via the bridge…).
@phatfield yeah, the Bluetooth connection only goes to a single speaker. If you want to control a group, then you can’t use Bluetooth. Then you will be in the same boat as me lol
I have AskALexa installed and connected speakers via Samsung Multi room and smartthings. Now how do I control the speakers to play, pause, changed volume? Do I need to setup a momentary switch, or CoRE control?
I have paused the music and tried "Alexa ask Samsung to turn on “SpeakerName” " but Alexa doesn’t find the device
Unless I am making a mistake somewhere, I have been unable to get the Generic Media Renderer working with my Samsung Radiant speakers. The SmartApp isn’t able to see my speakers when discovering devices.
Try using AskAlexa to do something simple, like turning on a (known working) light. “Alexa, ask Smarthings to turn on living room lights” or something like that.
I noticed in your example, you use “Samsung” as the AskAlexa device. Did you set that value in the code when adding the Lambda app? If you only did it in the SmarthThings mobile app, then it isn’t setup properly.
I just got an R3 and had little trouble connecting with ST. My experience so far: Got it to say “Front Door” when the front door is opened. For some reason I think there’s a custom phrase timeout because I had it say “Front Door Opened” but it would harshly stop at the “O” in opened. There’s more bass with this unit compared to my Bose Companion 2 Desktop speakers. Also the sound “Seems” fuller because there’s two speaker for the Bose and just one for the R3. I also think maybe sound streamed through wifi using Airplay is always going to be better than bluetooth through the R3. Which brings me to my biggest disappointment - cannot stream iTunes music. iTunes music service can’t be streamed. Music I have bought in the past do fine because I “own” them. Unless I missed something. Also the bluetooth times out. I have to reconnect constantly if I haven’t used the speaker in minutes. Looks like this speaker may not have a place in my Smartthings eco system. But I’ll keep following this post just in case.
The lack of input control is exactly the wall I hit. I’m attempting to use voice control (alexa/google) via aux, however, multiroom speakers go to sleep after 8 hours on aux. They can only be woken up by touching their inputs or using the app - making them useless for this application. My work around is attempting to use a smart things hub to set the volume, or play a sound or something to see if this wakes it up. However, it switches from aux to wifi and never switches back. If I could run something to automatically set it back to aux we might be back in business.
