It's a bit hard to think why anyone who just wants to play music with Ubuntu would use Jack.
Yes, my reason for using it is that I have a firewire device. Firewire is a real hassle in Ubuntu. although, as mentioned elsewhere, I have found that hassle much reduced by installing KXStudio on top of it.
Jack... the Jack Audio Connection Kit.
Your media player will play to your onboard/PCI/USB soundcard/interface/DAC via Pulse Ausio and/or ALSA and, assuming it is nothing esoteric, should be recognised and almost as much plug'n'play as Windows. This was true for my old RME card and the on-boards that I have encountered (I've set up a couple of old machines to give to students: both of them
just worked for basic on-board audio. Students are going to want to watch movies and play music too, I figured
).
So, why would you want to use Jack? Well, maybe you are getting bored on a Sunday afternoon, browsing through software available for Ubuntu, and you fancy passing your music through an oscilloscope and a spectral analyser, on screen, just for starters. Or, connecting effects, synthesisers, and general fun stuff and making some weird noises
(Or, if you are really a musician, inviting the rest of the band round and getting into recording!)
Well, Jack is a patch panel. KXStudio's
cadence and associated tools makes it relatively easy to configure and control, and connect that stuff all up with virtual connections on a nice gui interface. Just because you don't
need something doesn't mean it is not fun to play with
. Only a couple of days ago, I was going through all the pre-programmed sounds of a virtual mini moog --- just for fun. Here's not one, but two synthesisers. If I had a couple of
physical midi keyboards, I could probably play them both at once.
You can just make out the "patch panel" at the top right. And there's nearly forty other synthesiser to play with in the
Bristol package
No... I didn't wire in anything to record with. I just make noise, not music, but I must try it.
