[LAU] Run all audio through Jack?

[Emiliano Grilli]

"Jonathan E. Brickman" <jeb at joshuacorps.org> writes:

> I'm on Debian testing nicely tweaked (a.k.a. AVLinux), which means all 
> sound is pure direct ALSA, except when I turn on Jack and run something 
> explicitly through it.  The question is:  Is there any reason why I 
> should not be running all audio through Jack?  I heard that through 
> .asoundrc one can achieve this quite easily, and it strikes me as a way 
> to speed up the process of setup for a gig, unless there are downsides I 
> don't understand? 

I do that in ubuntu jaunty:

there's a mechanism in ALSA that lets you use jack as output for ALSA
only applications:

http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php/Jack_(plugin)

I have this on my ~/.asoundrc


pcm.!default {
	        type plug
	        slave { pcm "jack" }
	}

pcm.jack {
	        type jack
	        playback_ports {
 	               0 system:playback_1
 	               1 system:playback_2
 	       }
 	       	capture_ports {
 	               0 system:capture_1
                       1 system:capture_2


This means that the ALSA "default" device should be redirected through
the "jack" device. 

For this to work I had to recompile the package libasound2-plugins,
which did'nt include the alsa jack plugin in stock ubuntu.

And it also means that when you're not running Jack, ALSA applications
will complain (but you can always move the .asoundrc somewere else to
restore the original functionality)

I'm able to use almost all sounding applications through jack this
way, including skype and the flash plugin for firefox (from version 10
up). Those are not realtime safe, so they make some xruns... But I
turn on jack in the morning and use it all day long and all is working
quite well.


> J.E.B.

Hope this helps

Ciao
-- 
Emiliano Grilli
Linux user #209089 
http://www.emillo.net