Open Voice OS configuration

The ~/ovos/config/mycroft.conf configuration file is mounted into each container as a read-only volume.

First I configure then I deploy

Before deploying the services and volumes, it is recommended to set the OVOS configuration so the initial start has the correct settings such as lang.

Initial configuration

This configuration is very basic, it instructs the Open Voice OS instance to run in English as main language.

~/ovos/config/mycroft.conf

{
  "play_wav_cmdline": "aplay %1",
  "lang": "en-us",
  "listener": {
    "VAD": {
      "module": "ovos-vad-plugin-silero"
    }
  }
}

Configure the logging

By default, the Open Voice OS services will write their logs into a file under ~/.local/state/mycroft directory but since we are running containers, we can leverage the docker logs or podman logs commands.

The solution is to add these lines into the ~/ovos/config/mycroft.conf file (create the file if it does not exist). This will tell the services to redirect their logs to the container stdout.

~/ovos/config/mycroft.conf

{
  "logs": {
    "path": "stdout"
  },
  "play_wav_cmdline": "aplay %1",
  "lang": "en-us",
  "listener": {
    "VAD": {
      "module": "ovos-vad-plugin-silero"
    }
  }
}

During a debug session, it might be useful to retrieve information from the different components using the ovos-logs command. This command looks for log files in the ~/.local/state/mycroft directory. If needed, then remove the following lines from the ~/ovos/config/mycroft.conf file.

~/ovos/config/mycroft.conf

{
  "logs": {
    "path": "stdout"
  }
}

Services already deployed

If the services have been already deployed and the ~/ovos/config/mycroft.conf has changed, then you will have to restart the containers impacted by the change(s).

Custom .asoundrc for ALSA

Sometimes a custom .asoundrc file might be required. A common example is when a voice HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) such as Google AIY Voice Hat is connected to a Raspberry Pi, a custom .asoundrc might be required to make it work with ALSA.

In order to pass this custom .asoundrc file to the containers, the file must be created within the ~/ovos/config/ directory and named asoundrc (with no .).

Only for the containers using sound

The custom .asoundrc file will be passed only to the containers that leverage the audio stack; ovos_listener, ovos_phal, ovos_audio, ovos_core.

~/ovos/config/asoundrc

# Configuration for Google AIY Voice Hat V1
options snd_rpi_googlemihat_soundcard index=0

pcm.softvol {
    type softvol
    slave.pcm dmix
    control {
        name Master
        card 0
    }
}

pcm.micboost {
    type route
    slave.pcm dsnoop
    ttable {
        0.0 30.0
        1.1 30.0
    }
}

pcm.!default {
    type asym
    playback.pcm "plug:softvol"
    capture.pcm "plug:micboost"
}

ctl.!default {
    type hw
    card 0
}

Services already deployed

If the services have been already deployed and the ~/ovos/config/asoundrc has changed, then you will have to restart the containers impacted by the change(s).