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Re: [microsound] inter application audio (os x): JACK



wakefield and the micro-gang,

this Jack app is familiar to most any user of audio under Linux as the 
the glue that holds their digital studio together. a quite standard 
setup on my laptop would be to have a session running in Pure Data with 
internal audio connections open via Jack to Jack-Rack [an effects rack 
which uses mostly LAPSPA plugins, although some VSTs are capable of 
being ported], to my external soundcard for playback and input, and to 
Ardour, Audacity or Rezound [all are sample or multitrack recorders, 
each with a different level of complexity vs. features. Ardour in 
particular will soon be a contendor in the Cubase/ProTools realm of 
multitrackers!]. the really beautiful thing about Jack is that it will 
allow your sound apps many more ports in and out than your soundcard 
supports. all happening now, in realtime, under Linux.

of course, i can't expect every Mac user to drop OSX and install Linux, 
but at least you have a picture of a nice future ahead!
[no platform wars intended] ;-)

for OSX, however, all of this audio paradise will depend on two things: 
for a complete OSX port of the Jack application itself [in the works, 
part of the plan, no problemo!], and second for the developers of your 
OSX audio applications to support Jack. i am not sure what to expect of 
this in a commercial software market, where inter-operability is not a 
function of usability, but of marketability [see ReWire as an 
example...]. moves like this just happen faster in an open source 
development scheme. so while the programmers of all your freeware apps 
might get on the boat quickly, you might just drown holding your breath 
waiting for Steinberg's Cubase to support Jack ['why should we when we 
already spent so much money developing our own proprietary 
interapplication protocol with Propellerheadz?'] see kids, software 
politics DOES in fact affect your art...

[/rant]

those interested in what Linux has to offer for sound can start here:
http://linux-sound.org/

OSX users can start lobbying their favorite freeware and commercial 
software developers now, so the wait won't be so long when Jack is in 
the house. dedicated OSX users can learn how to compile programs [not 
too much headache, i promise!] and start running some of this open 
source stuff on their boxes right NOW.

and those wishing all the current details of Jack can check here:
http://jackit.sourceforge.net/

sweet dreams,
d.

Wakefield Graham wrote:

>Relates back to earlier topics of recording any audio playing to a file,
>Detour/Wiretap et al, also replacement for rewire/directconnect using MaxMSP
>on OSX, or PD on OSX, or in fact to my earlier q: is there any way to route
>audio from one app to another app in OS X?
>
>Yes (in beta): http://www.meskalina.it/elementicaotici/dev/jack.html
>
>""When the jack server runs, it access the audio harware using a standard
>CoreAudio driver (Built-in, MOTU 828...), all running jack clients can be
>connected to the physical audio in/out or other jack clients.  
>
>The "Jack Audio Server" basically allow to connect the in/out of an
>CoreAudio application to the in/out of another CoreAudio applications. In
>some cases it is also usefull to route "internal" audio streams, and jack
>audio plug-ins can be used to do that.
>
>The "Jack Audio Server" CoreAudio driver can be configurated as system
>default driver to be used by applications like iTunes or QuickTimePlayer
>that use the system default driver."
>  
>

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