Alexa skill for WiiM

[Wiimer]

Is there a chance that an Alexa skill for WiiM will be offered?

Currently, when playing from the WiiM home app (for example, presetting), voice control with Echo is not available.

Below is what I want to do with voice control.

Set the volume to 70%.
Add this song to playlist.
Next Song.
Play Preset 1.
shuffle.

If you start playback from an echo, you can perform all of these operations. These operations cannot be performed when playback is started from the WiiM home app.

Also, can I use the voice buttons on the WiiM Remote to perform these operations?

 

[WiimFan]

I was under the impression that Wiim devices support Alexa voice too, but it seems voice control is not possible.

Even just a simple play, pause or stop will mean a lot. I wonder if @WiiM Team is working on this?

 

[Brantome]

I was under the impression that Wiim devices support Alexa voice too, but it seems voice control is not possible.

Even just a simple play, pause or stop will mean a lot. I wonder if @WiiM Team is working on this?

They do. Because the WiiM Amazon Music interface is built using the Alexa Multi Room Music (MRM) API, it appears in the Alexa app as an echo/Alexa device so no skill is needed.

As the WiiM devices don’t have microphones for control, you need to use either an Echo or the “Talk to Alexa” feature in the Amazon Music or Alexa apps.

You can ask “Alexa, play my relaxing piano playlist on Wiim-device-name” or set the Wiim device as a preferred speaker in an Alexa smart home device/room group which contains an echo such that all music requests are played on that speaker by default with having to add “on Wiim-device-name” to each request.

I presume you have already linked the Alexa service in the WiiM app?

 

[Brantome]

Is there a chance that an Alexa skill for WiiM will be offered?

Currently, when playing from the WiiM home app (for example, presetting), voice control with Echo is not available.

Below is what I want to do with voice control.

Set the volume to 70%.
Add this song to playlist.
Next Song.
Play Preset 1.
shuffle.

If you start playback from an echo, you can perform all of these operations. These operations cannot be performed when playback is started from the WiiM home app.

Also, can I use the voice buttons on the WiiM Remote to perform these operations?

While some of the commands above work (such as play, stop etc) it’s because the Wiim devices are implemented as echo/Alexa devices. It’d be unusual to have a skill controlling the features of the Wiim device itself such as adding to a Wiim playlist (rather than an amazon music playlist as happens with an echo) or accessing the WiiM’s presets as you suggest. I don’t know if the Alexa ecosystem can handle a device being both an MRM devcie and an AV device like, say a Denon AVR whose skill can control some of its functions (but that’s because it isn’t an MRM echo/Alexa type device). Interesting thought though…

 

[Wiimer]

You can ask “Alexa, play my relaxing piano playlist on Wiim-device-name”

In that case, Alexa will play. It is not playback from the Wiim app. (I don't see the shuffle or repeat button in the Wiim app).

But thanks to you, a compromise was found.

Omit the device name in the boilerplate action.
I can now also add playback from the Wiim app to a playlist.

Thank you!

 

[lawrenr58]

Hi
I’m new to this and I have a WiiM mini and an echo dot in the same room with the WiiM streaming to my hifi.
I want to control the music from the echo dot and have tried 2 things
1 put them both in a room called ‘music room’ and made the WiiM the preferred speaker- this works if I say “play music(artist, song or playlist) in the music room” - some commands work, like Alexa pause, skip track, mute, resume - but it won’t control the volume and will only play another artist or playlist if I stop it and then start again with the “play music(artist, song or playlist) in the music room” command, again.
The other thing I have tried is to make the wiim mini a connected speaker for the echo dot and making it the preferred speaker(as per the wiim manual) but it seems to ignore the wiim and play on the echos onboard speaker

Can anyone help?

 

[Brantome]

The best way to do this is as you have done, but you really only need the echo to be in the music room device group with the Wiim set as preferred speaker. You should also choose the option under the preferred speaker setting not to have to add “in the music room” you you can simply ask the echo to play music and it will default to the Wiim anyway.

You should be able to ask it to start a new stream without stopping the first so if that doesn’t work for you, you should submit a ticket to WiiM just after that happens so they can inspect the device log.

As for volume, do you have it fixed in the WiiM app? If so, you may need to control the volume of the amp it’s connected to.

 

[lawrenr58]

Hi Will
I’ll post this here too as I did open another thread -

Thank you so much that’s perfect- the commands all work and play on wiim in the hifi system just right.
As you noted, my mistake was trying to set the preferred speaker for the echo dot- rather than for the room- it would only let me select a speaker group which in turn had to contain 2 or more devices, the echo and the wiim, which explains why I couldn’t stop the sound coming from both sources!! Now it is set as the preferred speaker for the room, with just the echo dot in it, it is functioning properly.
Also, at some point I must have locked the volume on the wiim to 100% - I have changed it as you suggested and the volume operates perfectly now.
Thank you again for your excellent advice