JACK is a high-performance audio server developed for POSIX compliant systems such as Apple's OS X and GNU/Linux, designed to support low-latency audio operation.
I recently had the opportunity to test out JACK, a low-latency audio server which was designed specifically for professional audio work. JACK is available for POSIX conformant operating systems such as GNU/Linux and Apple's OS X. With Jack audio connection kit, it is possible to connect multiple applications to an audio device and share audio between them.
JACK's clients can run in their processes, much like any other application, or they can run directly within the JACK server as a plugin. The design of JACK focuses on two crucial areas; synchronous execution of all clients and low latency operation, making it perfect for professional audio tasks.
To use JACK, two requirements must be met. The first is FLTK, and the other is libsndfile. In this latest release of JACK, the API has undergone several changes. These include the addition of the jack_thread_wait API, the removal of the port_(un)lock functions, new time APIs, port aliases, a new client registration callback, and a port connect callback.
When it comes to backends, JACK's ALSA backend has been redesigned to fix the use of snd_pcm_link and now offers hardware jack-midi support, as well as proper triggering in OSS driver when in full duplex mode. Other notable changes include the addition of a 'firewire' backend for use with FFADO, and the addition of support for big-endian 16bit format discovery.
Apart from backend changes, other improvements include the ability to handle JACK_PROMISCUOUS_SERVER, the default tmpdir now points to /dev/shm, the -Z flag can be used to cancel zombification on timeout, and users now have the ability to add per-port update total latency. The default watchdog timeout has also been increased to 10 seconds.
Overall, I was very impressed with JACK's performance and features, and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the professional audio industry looking for a low-latency audio server.
JACK's clients can run in their processes, much like any other application, or they can run directly within the JACK server as a plugin. The design of JACK focuses on two crucial areas; synchronous execution of all clients and low latency operation, making it perfect for professional audio tasks.
To use JACK, two requirements must be met. The first is FLTK, and the other is libsndfile. In this latest release of JACK, the API has undergone several changes. These include the addition of the jack_thread_wait API, the removal of the port_(un)lock functions, new time APIs, port aliases, a new client registration callback, and a port connect callback.
When it comes to backends, JACK's ALSA backend has been redesigned to fix the use of snd_pcm_link and now offers hardware jack-midi support, as well as proper triggering in OSS driver when in full duplex mode. Other notable changes include the addition of a 'firewire' backend for use with FFADO, and the addition of support for big-endian 16bit format discovery.
Apart from backend changes, other improvements include the ability to handle JACK_PROMISCUOUS_SERVER, the default tmpdir now points to /dev/shm, the -Z flag can be used to cancel zombification on timeout, and users now have the ability to add per-port update total latency. The default watchdog timeout has also been increased to 10 seconds.
Overall, I was very impressed with JACK's performance and features, and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the professional audio industry looking for a low-latency audio server.
What's New
Version 0.109.0: N/A