Re: Jack and CoreAudio (was Mirroring Audio Output)
Re: Jack and CoreAudio (was Mirroring Audio Output)
- Subject: Re: Jack and CoreAudio (was Mirroring Audio Output)
- From: Rick Sustek <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:02:34 -0800
Interesting discussion! May I add a sort of different perspective on
this?
Keeping above the technical internals, and speaking to a systems
architecture viewpoint:
(rhetorical questions)
Firstly, what are we trying to model here?
Is this not simply the good old rack-mounted jack panel of the analog
studio domain?
Are there not multiple vendors of analog jack panels?
What do they have in common that makes them commercially viable?
The thing that creates the market for these devices is the standards
for the connectors. You've got your 1/4 inch phono plugs, in mono or
stereo/balanced TRS configs. You've got your balanced XLR configs.
And a few other common connector types, some for telecom usage.
Looking at the audio architecture of Apple's OS X, and listening to
these threads, it seems pretty clear that Apple chose not to build-in
the digital patch panel, and prefers to foster an open marketplace
for patch panel vendors.
So who drives the connector standards for the digital patch panel
marketplace? That would be the OS provider, based on involvement with
the "equipment" vendor community, n'est pas?
So, that is what this thread is about, and it seems like the main
question, is: are the connector standards adequately in place? And it
sure looks like the work is not finished yet, as we are still
questioning how much of the "connectors" needs be implemented in
kernel space.
...
I am pleased to see this discussion moving forward! When I started
utilizing the OS X audio capabilities, many moons ago, I was thrilled
by the capabilities and possibilities. However, one of the first
things I looked for was the "digital patch panel". I was surprised to
find that no such thing came stock with the OS, and so assumed that
such a thing existed in spades from the software vendor community,
just like in the hardware analog world. Nope. I actually could not
believe that this was not true -- how can I have a studio without a
patch panel???
I did manage to come across "Jack", and have used it since. But the
mere existence of "Jack" and its brethren, does not imply that we as
a community are done with the standards process for the OS X audio
patching connectors. We will be done when the patching bay is a
readily available software component, not something you need to do a
specialty search for on the Internet. Done when they are available
from several vendors, each of which may have its own extra features,
some free, some for a fee, but are all interoperable at the connector
interface. Done when all the audio production applications [for OS X]
can easily be told how to make a connection into the bay, and don't
care who's bay it is, e.g. no "Jack aware" applications.
A rosy future!
...
Have fun,
-Rick
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