Getting set up with JackTrip on your computer
Prerequsites
Installing Software
JackTrip is a software kit developed at Stanford's CCRMA. There's a user-friendly interface to it called JamTrip developed by a helpful San Francisco musician. The following instructions are adapted from CCRMA and the JamTrip home page.
Windows
JamTrip does not run on Linux, so you don't get a nice GUI. But if you're running Linux, we're guessing you're okay with command-line operations. Follow the instructions at CCRMA to install both JACK and JackTrip. In the JACK setup, configure for 48000 sample rate and 256 frames/period.
Testing
Plug in your microphone (if using an external one) and headphones. Confirm that your OS is using them by opening your sound settings and checking which devices are being used. You can find your sound settings at System Preferences > Sound on Mac, Settings > Sound Settings on Windows 10, or Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound on Windows 7. On either flavor of Windows, you can get to these quickly by right-clicking on the speaker icon in your system tray (bottom-right corner of your screen in the default setup).
Try connecting to the Stanford loopback server. Launch JamTrip, paste jackloop256.stanford.edu_48000_256_h_b16_q4_r1 into the Connection code box, and click Connect. If successful, you should hear some rhythmic clapping, and when you speak into your microphone you should hear your voice in your headphones.
If you're on Linux, you'll have to use the command line. Follow the CCRMA instructions to start Jack. Then in a shell window, type
jacktrip -C jackloop256.stanford.edu
- A computer (laptop or desktop) running Windows, OS X, or Linux. We have had the most success so far with Windows (both 7 and 10), but in theory the other two are possibilities.
- A direct Ethernet connection to your home router (WiFi introduces too much latency).
- Headphones, simple ones without a built-in microphone (people have reported issues with the built-in mic kind). Earbuds are fine, too—whatever you think you'll be comfortable with. You just don't want your microphone to hear the audio output and thus generate feedback.
- Microphone input of some kind to the computer. For our initial experimentation, even the microphone built into a laptop should suffice. Try recording yourself with it and see if it sounds okay. If you don't already have a recording app, try Audacity. On Windows 10, there's a built-in voice recording app.
- A second device on which you can run Zoom. This could be as simple as your smartphone. At least on Windows, it is not possibly to run JackTrip and Zoom audio simultaneously (video is unaffected). We don't know about Mac/Linux.
Installing Software
JackTrip is a software kit developed at Stanford's CCRMA. There's a user-friendly interface to it called JamTrip developed by a helpful San Francisco musician. The following instructions are adapted from CCRMA and the JamTrip home page.
Windows
- Download and install the ASIO driver from http://www.asio4all.org/. This is a tiny file, with a driver that will only be active when Jack is running.
- Download and install the Jack Audio Connection Kit (JACK) from github. You can use this direct link to the installer.
- Download and install the latest release of JamTrip. The .exe files are at the bottom of the page. The one called JamTrip.Setup.0.1.2.exe is the x64 installer, which is what most modern hardware takes now.
- Follow the OS X instructions at https://github.com/vicwomg/jamtrip.
JamTrip does not run on Linux, so you don't get a nice GUI. But if you're running Linux, we're guessing you're okay with command-line operations. Follow the instructions at CCRMA to install both JACK and JackTrip. In the JACK setup, configure for 48000 sample rate and 256 frames/period.
Testing
Plug in your microphone (if using an external one) and headphones. Confirm that your OS is using them by opening your sound settings and checking which devices are being used. You can find your sound settings at System Preferences > Sound on Mac, Settings > Sound Settings on Windows 10, or Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound on Windows 7. On either flavor of Windows, you can get to these quickly by right-clicking on the speaker icon in your system tray (bottom-right corner of your screen in the default setup).
Try connecting to the Stanford loopback server. Launch JamTrip, paste jackloop256.stanford.edu_48000_256_h_b16_q4_r1 into the Connection code box, and click Connect. If successful, you should hear some rhythmic clapping, and when you speak into your microphone you should hear your voice in your headphones.
If you're on Linux, you'll have to use the command line. Follow the CCRMA instructions to start Jack. Then in a shell window, type
jacktrip -C jackloop256.stanford.edu
