Why is JACK difficult to setup?

Posted Jun 24, 2005 8:41 UTC (Fri) by dhj (guest, #4655) [Link]

I don't think JACK is difficult to use once you know how it works, but
from a general user point of view it appears complicated - take a look at
the qjackctl settings dialogue.

Jack will rarely "just work" with a standard distribution - a low-latency
patched kernel is practically essential - and the flexibility available
with routing adds additional complexity. It also requires a fixed sample
rate to be set on the interface. In a non-music-creation context, you
might have a Flash game with a 22KHz soundtrack and a CD playing at
44.1KHz simultaneously, for example.

For these reasons, I don't think any of the mainstream distributions
support Jack as their primary sound server. Arguably, Jack is overkill for
a general-purpose desktop where the only need for a sound server is to
connect multiple stereo streams (of various sample rates) to a single
sound chipset. But for a distribution like 64 Studio, it's a critical
component.