[FIXED] IPython Essentia 'no module named' error

Issue

I am trying to use a Python module called Essentia which is used for audio analysis. In order to use that, it has to be built in Ubuntu Environment as explained here. I did all the things to install Essentia in a folder in desktop.

Then in IPython, I am trying to import the installed and built Essentia module. I am running IPython in the folder where my module is located. It is not in /usr/lib/python2.7. It is located in my desktop as mentioned above.

But when I import Essentia module in IPython, it tells me

ImportError: No module named essentia

What is the problem here? Do I have to build Essentia inside /usr/lib/python2.7, and if so, how do I do that? Or has some other thing gone wrong?

Solution

I had the exact same problem and was able to fix it.

From your question I can't be 100% sure what your problem is - however, these are a couple of possible culprits which you - or others - may be having.

I, too, am using Python 2.7, and want to use Essentia in an IPython/Jupyter Notebook environment.

1. Essentia location

This is my first guess as to what your problem is.

If you were able to successfully configure and install Essentia (otherwise see below), the path where the Essentia Python files were likely installed is /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages or similar, and that Python isn't looking there. To make sure it does, you could add

import sys
sys.path.append("/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages")

to the start of your Python script.

This solved it for me.

You could also add the following line to your ~/.bash_profile:

export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/

to avoid having to add this path to every Python file/Notebook where you would like to use Essentia.

2. Configuration and installation

Skip this if you were able to successfully configure and install Essentia. These were other notable issues I had before I finally got the install finished successfully message.

The main instructions, as OP noted, are here.

ffftw3f or taglib not found

I resolved this using MacPorts instead:

sudo port install fftw-3-single
sudo port install taglib

Failed installation

I should note I had some issues during installation which made me get rid of the C++ tests, Gaia, and Vamp plugin support (none of which I needed) by removing these and some others from the config line (as this has helped other users in the past):

./waf configure --mode=release --with-python --with-examples

instead of

./waf configure --mode=release --build-static --with-python --with-cpptests --with-examples --with-vamp --with-gaia

This made the following error message go away:

Build failed
 -> task in 'standard_fadedetection' failed (exit status 1): 
    {task 4417706448: cxxprogram standard_fadedetection.cpp.5.o -> standard_fadedetection}
['clang++', '-stdlib=libc++', 'src/examples/standard_fadedetection.cpp.5.o', '-o', '/Users/Brecht/Downloads/essentia-2.0.1/build/src/examples/standard_fadedetection', '-Lsrc', '-lessentia', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-lfftw3f', '-lyaml', '-lavformat', '-lavcodec', '-lavutil', '-lswresample', '-lsamplerate', '-ltag']
 -> task in 'streaming_extractor_freesound' failed (exit status 1): 
    {task 4417783952: cxxprogram FreesoundExtractor.cpp.22.o,FreesoundLowlevelDescriptors.cpp.22.o,FreesoundRhythmDescriptors.cpp.22.o,FreesoundSfxDescriptors.cpp.22.o,FreesoundTonalDescriptors.cpp.22.o,streaming_extractor_freesound.cpp.22.o -> streaming_extractor_freesound}
['clang++', '-stdlib=libc++', 'src/examples/freesound/FreesoundExtractor.cpp.22.o', 'src/examples/freesound/FreesoundLowlevelDescriptors.cpp.22.o', 'src/examples/freesound/FreesoundRhythmDescriptors.cpp.22.o', 'src/examples/freesound/FreesoundSfxDescriptors.cpp.22.o', 'src/examples/freesound/FreesoundTonalDescriptors.cpp.22.o', 'src/examples/streaming_extractor_freesound.cpp.22.o', '-o', '/Users/Brecht/Downloads/essentia-2.0.1/build/src/examples/streaming_extractor_freesound', '-Lsrc', '-lessentia', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-L/opt/local/lib', '-lfftw3f', '-lyaml', '-lavformat', '-lavcodec', '-lavutil', '-lswresample', '-lsamplerate', '-ltag']

Let me know how that works out - I've got a feeling I've had about all the errors you could encounter.

(Acknowledgement: The main reason I was able to solve this so quickly is this thread - also thanks to @djmoffat and @justin_salamon.)

Answered By - BrechtDeMan