JACK
More info
- Creator
- Paul Davis
- Released
- 2002
- Type
- Sound server
- License
- GPL / LGPL
- Website
- jackaudio.org
JACK Audio Connection Kit — the pro-audio sound server that lets any program's inputs and outputs be patched into any other program's, sample-accurately.
Paul Davis built JACK in the early 2000s around his DAW Ardour, because Linux lacked what Mac studios took for granted: low latency and a way for a synth, a drum machine and a recorder to share one audio clock. JACK runs every client in a single shared cycle with the same buffer size, so audio can be passed between programs without anyone falling a buffer behind. Transport sync means pressing play in one application starts them all.
The price was convenience. JACK grabbed the sound card exclusively, really wanted a real-time kernel and got along badly with desktop audio, so Linux musicians spent years toggling between two sound worlds. Stéphane Letz's rewrite, JACK2, added multi-core support. These days PipeWire implements the JACK API, and most people run JACK applications without a jackd in sight.