Hey guys,

Could anyone give me some tips about setting up Jack Audio on a Windows 10 machine?

I've tried to follow several guides, but it always ends up with a "jack server has crashed" situation, no matter what I do.

I've tried to make it work a bunch of times along the years, with no success.

Particularly, my goal this time is to connect Studio One to Mixbus using jack.

Thanks.

R.

 

I'm assuming you have a 64-bit setup.

After setup you have to edit JACK file properties in the TARGET field -

1. From the Windows Start menu, locate the Jack folder and right click on Jack Portaudio icon, then select ‘Send to Desktop’ (this will place a shortcut on your desktop)
2. Now go to your desktop and right click on the Jack PortAudio shortcut, and then select ‘Properties’ (use right click to open ‘Properties’)
3. Add the following information to the ‘Target’ property:
   "C:\Program Files\Jack\jackd.exe" -R -S -d portaudio -d "ASIO::ASIO4ALL v2" [This configures Jack to use the ASIO4ALL v2 driver, if you have another ASIO device then configure the ‘Target’ property with that device name. For a list of all the audio devices on your system that Jack can connect to, open a Command Prompt, change directory to the Jack folder (i.e. cd “c:\Program Files (x86)\Jack") then run this command: jackd -d portaudio -l (that’s an ‘ell’ for List, not a ‘one’), this will present you with the list of supported devices.]
4. Click on OK.
5. Again, from the Windows Start menu, locate the Jack folder and right click on the Jack Control icon, then select ‘Send to Desktop’ (placing a Jack Control shortcut on your desktop)

You will now have the Jack PortAudio icon (which starts the Jack Audio Connection Kit’s audio server), and the Jack Control icon (which allows you to configure the connections between ASIO programs and your hardware). The sequence of usage is to start with the Jack PortAudio icon, allow the audio server to start, and then start Jack Control.

The Jack v 1.9.8/64bits/JackRouter.dll still has to be registered “manually” with regsvr32 - so please try the following command to register the 64-bit JackRouter:
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Jack v1.9.8\64bits\JackRouter.dll"
Be sure to unregister previous versions before installing the new one.

Troubleshooting Tip. If you are unable to register the 64-bit JackRouter, while in Windows Explorer navigate to \windows\system32, and right click on “cmd.exe” and chose “Run As Administrator” from the context menu. The open a command prompt, navigated to \Program Files (x86)\Jack v1.9.8\64bits, and then enter regsvr32 JackRouter.dll at the prompt.

The Jack v 1.9.8/64bits/JackRouter.dll still has to be registered “manually” with regsvr32 - so please try the following command to register the 64-bit JackRouter:
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Jack v1.9.8\64bits\JackRouter.dll"
Be sure to unregister previous versions before installing the new one.

Troubleshooting Tip. If you are unable to register the 64-bit JackRouter, while in Windows Explorer navigate to \windows\system32, and right click on “cmd.exe” and chose “Run As Administrator” from the context menu. The open a command prompt, navigated to \Program Files (x86)\Jack v1.9.8\64bits, and then enter regsvr32 JackRouter.dll at the prompt.

Apologies if you've already tried these steps. They directly are directly from the JACK site.
I followed these steps only substituting the ASIO4ALL device with my own interface using the "jack -d portaudio -l" command.
MAKE SURE YOU RUN THE JACK ENGINE AS ADMINISTRATOR.

Honestly though it introduced far too much latency. It may have been a configuration issue on my end but I tried virtually everything.
Now I just use VB-Audio's Voicemeeter Banana which has absolutely no latency for audio connections between programs.

Or Plogue Bidule when I need MIDI connections too.

 

Last edited: May 6, 2016

Thanks brother,

Yes, I've followed all these steps and the thing always end up crashing on me. Why does it have to be so complicated to set up?

Does Voicemeeter Banana offers multiple channel support? I'll give it a try.

R.

Ps: Just read Banana offers just 8 ASIO channels I/O.

 

Very interesting thread. I was planning to use Jack audio for the well known Windows problem "using usb micro with an audio card/interface ". But I'll look this Voicemeter banana thing.

 

8 channels. http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Voicemeeter/banana.htm

Just set your levels low on startup or the feedback will blow something.

 

I've downloaded it and just like the image suggests the possibilities are fantastic! It's an all in one Windows sound interconnection: software and physical inputs and outputs. Lots of possibilities. I'm going to try to put an asio compressor after the MPC video player in order to watch movies at night with low volume.

I can't believe I didn't found this before. Thanks a lot @Pinkman

 

You're welcome. Enjoy.

 

Just an update:

I've managed to make Jack Server stop crashing (changed compatibility mode), but Jackrouter ASIO driver doesn't load in Studio One. I've read somewhere (not on their official page) that Jack doesn't work with Studio One 64, only 32. So this most certainly is the issue here...

I've been running some tests with ReaRoute. It comes bundled with Reaper, but you have to check a box if you want it installed. So, its installation was as simple as it should be and I was able to select it in Studio One as my ASIO driver with no issues whatsoever. I'll make some real, practical tests later.

 

ReaRoute is pretty awesome.
I also use ReaStream to send audio from my DAW to my laptop which is purely for metering with iZotope Insight. I use Ethernet but the latency (or lack thereof) on wireless is impressive.
I've even used it to jam with buddies who weren't even in the same zip code as me. I wouldn't recommend it with anything less than a rocksteady fiber-optic connection.
Few things suck more than a dropped MIDI note off message.
Yes it does MIDI too.

As far as bandwidth goes, working at 96Khz, you'd need at least 6MB/s per channel.

 

Here man:

http://voicemeeter.com

I promise it will change your life ;)

 

can you use reamote with another DAW? Also, I wanted to try reastream in another Daw (reaplug VST version) but there isn't barely information. Everybody sais VEP is the real deal or Reamote inside Reaper.

I would use it on wired LAN so latency is not a problem. But I want to use it for two directional plugins, say, kontakt. So I need a solution with latency compensation

 

I managed to achieve VST systemLink (and get pretty solid sync.) between several Cubase sessions using netjack over JACK on the MAC. Please don't ask me how I did it because it was a long time ago. I just know I used scripts and a lot of clever routing.

 

@RMorgan I've managed to use JACK2 to route the following:
Maschine > Studio One / Maschine > Live > Studio One / Maschine >Live > MixBus32C / Maschine > Studio One > MixBus32C

A few things I've discovered that may be causing you problems:

*None of the above setups worked unless I ran Studio One in Windows 8 Compatibility Mode. This also helped pickup a bunch of Abbey Road plugs that were crashing as well as some other more obscure plugins. I used to have around 20 plugins that Studio One couldn't load. Now there's only one that doesn't load.

*The following from the jackaudio website:
The Jack v 1.9.8/64bits/JackRouter.dll still has to be registered “manually” with regsvr32 - so please try the following command to register the 64-bit JackRouter:
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Jack v1.9.8\64bits\JackRouter.dll"

The above command didn't work for me because when Jack was installed the default directory path was
C:\Program Files (x86)\Jack\...
and not
C:\Program Files (x86)\Jack v1.9.8\...

I entered this command instead: regsvr32 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Jack\64bits\JackRouter.dll"
Alternatively, you could rename the Jack folder to Jack v1.9.8 and enter the command exactly as described on the website.

*On a Windows machine, once Jack is installed and running it will default to 2 stereo inputs. You will have to add more manually by editing the JackRouter.ini file at this location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Jack\64bits\JackRouter.ini


I've added 32 In/32 Out as an example. You can create as many as you'd like seeing as they're virtual.

*Always start Jack PortAudio first. Launch your programs/DAWs next. (I do this in the order I'm sending the audio signal)
Configure Jack or JackRouter as your audio device in all programs you need connected.
Finally, launch Jack Control.

*Studio One will only allow 2 mono inputs or 1 stereo input unless the software has been fully activated. Once activated go to:
Studio One > Options > Song Setup > Audio I/O Setup and enable your inputs under the Inputs tab. Make Default is self explanatory.
Do the same for outputs under the Outputs tab.

*Jack Control > Setup. Driver should be set to portaudio.
Input Device and Output Device should be the audio device you specified in the Jack PortAudio shortcut's "Target Properties" earlier [Installation and Configuration STEP 3-5]

*Jack Control > Connect. You can route individual I/Os, one by one by clicking on the out and then the in and then the Connect


Or simply select the Readable Client then the Writable Client and click Connect to automatically route the in to the outs and vice versa.



This is 32 channels out of Maschine into Studio One into MixBus32C.
Why?
Today was my first day actually using Studio One even though I've had it installed for a while now. I just wanted to see if it would work.
Jack is kind of a bitch to setup but once you do you can save and load Setting, Session and Patchbay presets and if you use one single configuration all the time it's like 2 extra clicks on top of what you normally do to start a DAW session.

It's also a really easy way to process Maschine kits with Ableton FX and turn them into Drum Racks.

 

Last edited: Jun 29, 2016