Advice to friends : Jackified or not ?

[bugith]

Hi
The install page is puzzeling me. What is the simplest for them? I understand ASIO is important, but does it mean that Jack and ASIO are not compatible with each other?
Thank you

[ann0see]

ASIO is the default windows version. If you don't have dedicated hardware with an ASIO driver you need ASIO4All which can sometimes be very hard to setup.

JACK serves as backup solution. You'd use it for more advanced workflows.

[bugith]

Thanks @ann0see, this begins to make sense to me... advanced workflow... that is? More than 2 inputs?
You say "backup solution": does this mean lower performance/higher latency+setup complexity with a simple workflow that would also work as well with Jamulus standard version ?

[ann0see]

Backup solution = if you can't get ASIO to work you can try JACK.

More advanced = easier audio routing from other applications.

[pljones]

Life is never simple, that's for sure.

On Windows, native audio support is... let's say... not perfect.

There are two solutions:

• ASIO: originally a proprietary standard from Steinberg, now available in open source form as well
• JACK: originally a Linux method of adding easy audio interconnect over a variety of low-level audio backends

Not all Windows soundcards have an ASIO driver supplied by the manufacturer. Many manufacturers of budget models often use a clone of the Microsoft basic ASIO driver, which sits on top of their low-level audio backend. High-spec soundcards tend to have custom drivers designed carefully to minimise latency (skipping the Windows driver layer). When no ASIO driver is supplied, the "obvious" alternative is ASIO4ALL, which - like the Microsoft ASIO driver - sits on top of the Windows low-level audio backend.

Now for JACK. JACK on Windows uses a really useful library called PortAudio, which handles audio backends. It can handle Windows low-level audio and ASIO backends.

So JACK and ASIO4ALL are, essentially alternative ways to get an application to connect to your soundcard - both using the intermedite layer of the Windows low-level audio backend. So neither is "as good" as a high quality ASIO driver designed for your soundcard.

JACK is clever, though. JACK lets multiple ASIO applications all connect to it, thinking they're connecting to a soundcard, because it's got "JackRouter" - a "virtual ASIO driver". (If you've used Reaper, you may have come across ReaRoute; there are other similar tools from VB-Audio and other suppliers, all with different approaches.)

So you can connect JACK via a high-quality ASIO driver to your soundcard, then connect up and route (JACK's primary purpose) a variety of ASIO applications using JackRouter. Or you can use it to talk to your soundcard using Windows low-level drivers in the lowest latency mode they support.

Thus the answer is: yes, JACK and ASIO are compatible. What to choose, depends on the problem you're trying to solve and what tools you have available.

---

Pedantry note: "Windows low-level drivers" above aren't the hardware layer drivers: they're just not the layer you see in "Settings -> System -> Sound". There are a multitude of ways Microsoft has sought to solve Windows' comparatively poor audio performance over the decades, which is why things like ASIO, JACK and PortAudio exist.