**This is an old revision of the document!**
Since the JACK audio system runs as a server, it is ideally suited for smaller client applications which can plug into it, and combine one another's features to create a modular studio setup much like one would have in the physical world. There are several small (and sometimes not-so-small) sound applications that expect to be used as clients of the JACK server.
Strengths [Weaknesses]
Modular
One of the best things about open source software is the variety in what is available. With modular tools, you can pick and choose what to use, and chain them together through JACK.
Roadie-Friendly
If you are accustomed to real-world gear and all the cables and sub-mixers MIDI pass-throughs and unsolvable routing puzzles that go along with it, going modular will feel refreshingly familiar. Design the sound studio of your dreams, all on the comfort of your own computer screen, and without the danger of tripping over cables!
Weaknesses [Strengths]
Modular
Since there is no integrated environment (a DAW) managing the parts of a modular studio, all settings and routing must be managed by the user.
Unmanaged
If you are not used to real-world studio set-ups, understanding how and why MIDI and audio signals need to be routed and processed could be confusing at first. Conversely, you might have started out with hardware and are happy to give it up for a managed environment.
Install
The point of using modular applications is that they are independent of one another. Installing them, therefore, is not just one process; each must be installed separately. Because open source creativity is so prolific, this section contains only a small sample of the applications available for a modular studio, governed mostly by the applications having coincidentally been named “Jack Something”. Other Jack-compatible applications are listed separately (such as Yoshimi and Sooper Looper and Linux Sampler). The point of this section is partly about the applications themselves, part about the ability to maintain a modular studio, and partly about making sure you are able to sanely track what you use to make sounds.
JACK Rack
JACK Capture
JackBeat
Meter Bridge
Calf Jack Host
Rakarrack
Guitarix
Non
A modular studio. The “non” DAW. See the section on non.
Synths
Jack Keyboard
See Also
krita
mypaint
inkscape
darktable
lightzone