[issue]constant jack connections

[steve]

You say JAck isn't stable... I think it is.

The developers say it's beta: http://sourceforge.net/projects/jackit/

[grammo]

You say JAck isn't stable... I think it is.

The developers say it's beta: http://sourceforge.net/projects/jackit/

Ok, lets say it is a stable beta release
(jack is stable on my system...)

To be clear, I don't think the problem here is more a audacity problem then a jack problem (other apps seems to run pretty stable with jack)

[steve]

To be clear, I don't think the problem here is more a audacity problem then a jack problem

I think it's more an Audacity/portaudio problem. Unfortunately I don't have the knowledge or skills to help fix it, so I, like you, have just got to wait for the guys and gals that can.

[Gale Andrews]

OK, we noticed the "votes" for the "feature requests" about JACK. We have been aware of problems with JACK for a long time, though some of them change subtly with PortAudio updates as Steve says. I do think these issues are closer to bugs than feature requests, and as such, bugs are now best reported by writing to feedback _AT_audacityteam_DOT_org. We add confirmed bugs reported to that address to our Wiki Release Checklist (we no longer track bugs via Bugzilla).

So I have added the JACK issues I know/understand about on the Release Checklist (at the bottom of the "Priority P3" issues). Steve, if you are aware of other reproducible problems with JACK, can you summarise them for me?

As for the feature requests page, please note I removed the feature request about the subject problem with JACK from the "Playback Enhancements" section. This is best handled as a bug, and certainly not best described as a playback enhancement. I''ve left in a more generalised feature request "Full support for application-linking sound servers such as JACK" in the "Recording enhancements" section, as (possibly) the most appropriate place:
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... hancements

I already transferred the votes for the deleted request to this, so if anyone else wants to vote, or suggest specific features of JACK we should be supporting (better), please do it there.

As to fixes for JACK, I don't think there are obvious fixes we know of that we can apply, and our position is that essentially we are asking for suggested patches to point us in the right direction. It probably wants a tripartite Audacity/Portaudio/JACK dialogue with input from other apps. in some cases (for example alsaplayer if their fixes are relevant to us sorting out the subject problem).


Gale

[steve]

Steve, if you are aware of other reproducible problems with JACK, can you summarise them for me?

That's not as easy as it sounds. As you say, there are subtle changes with each update.

On Xubuntu Gutsy with the repo build of Audacity (Package: audacity (1.3.3-1ubuntu0.1), Jack did not seem to be available (though that may have been due to my limited knowledge of Linux).

With Xubuntu 8.10 and the repo build of Audacity 1.3.4 - JACK was available and worked reasonably well. The main issues were that JACK needed to be started with a defined sample rate (for example 48000 Hz), then stopped. Then Audacity could be opened, and if the default sample rate was set the same (in this example 48000 Hz), then JACK would be started and all would be fine, except that Audacity's ports would not be available until Audacity was in Play/Record mode - the ports would disappear as soon as playback or recording were stopped. I also had an issue running Audacity at the same time as "Jack Control" - any attempt to do so would produce a crash of either Audacity, Jack Control, or both. http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic ... 174#p16226

Then there was some update, and Audacity 1.3.4 became rather unstable, causing various crashes when Jack enabled audio applications were opened - this was whether JACK was selected in Audacities preferences or not.

I then updated Audacity to v.1.3.5 using the Ubuntu Intrepid build of Audacity. This version is pretty stable on my machine when using ALSA or OSS, but I can't get it to run with JACK. By starting JACK before opening Audacity, JACK will appear as a device option in preferences, but when selected, Audacity just crashes as soon as I try to play or record.

[grammo]

Thanks for your time and work guys! For music production on Linux, good jack support is essential and therefore I'm looking forward (and many others) for a fix of this problem.

Thanks again.

[grammo]

I tried to record something with Audacity, but these issues are even worse when recording. It seems I first have to hit record then hit pause and then make my preferred JACK connections.... this aint gonna work...

[steve]

I tried to record something with Audacity, but these issues are even worse when recording. It seems I first have to hit record then hit pause and then make my preferred JACK connections.... this aint gonna work...

That's exactly what I've been saying.
For now, it's ALSA, but I look forward to JACK at some point in the future.

[grammo]

So I have added the JACK issues I know/understand about on the Release Checklist (at the bottom of the "Priority P3" issues).

What I don't understand is that you put this in P3 (assuming p1 is the most urgent). With all the respect for Audacity, but without good Jack support, it is close to useless for professional (and even home recording) usage on Linux!! On the other site, good jack support makes this app very usefull for editing, mixing and a bit mastering!

If you need help with JACK, please post a message on the LAD mailinglist:
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/lis ... -audio-dev

[steve]

but without good Jack support, it is close to useless for professional (and even home recording) usage on Linux!!

That is very much an exaggeration. I agree that it would certainly be better if Audacity worked with JACK, but it works with ALSA and OSS and it is still the best multi-track audio editor available for Linux. I have various audio editors that work with JACK installed, as well as Audacity (which on my set-up does not work with JACK). If I want to record the output from JACK I use mhWaveEdit or Ardour2. If I want to edit audio I use Audacity. If I want to rip or burn CDs I use K3B. I don't find it a much of a problem using different applications for different tasks. What I do find to be a little annoying is that I need to stop JACK (using Jack audio connection kit) before I use Audacity.

What I don't understand is that you put this in P3 (assuming p1 is the most urgent).

The priority ratings are explained here: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... _Checklist
I agree that this is a very important issue for anyone that wants to use Audacity with other JACK enabled applications, but that is a small minority of users, and even for such users (such as you and I) there are ways that we can work around the issue.

I do not mean to down talk this issue, as I would love to see Audacity work with full JACK support including "Transport Control".