Documentation Musicians Beat

Move to jack2

Fedora 14 moves from jack to jack2, formerly called jackdmp. jack2 offers many improvements over previous versions available in Fedora. Current jack-capable programs can take advantage of these improvements without modification.

• jack2 takes advantage of multi-processor or multi-core systems. The result is fewer audio glitches when more than one jack-enabled program is run.
• You can now modify connections without interrupting the audio stream. This means that you do not need to stop recording or playback in order to change how your programs connect to each other.
• "Asynchronous" activation prevents audible audio glitches. If a program does not provide a sample in time, jack2 automatically repeats the previous sample. The old jack server would have produced an audible glitch, but with jack2, you may not even hear the missing sample.
• You can use jack2 and PulseAudio on the same computer. When the jack server starts, it automatically takes control of your audio hardware from PulseAudio. When the jack server stops, it automatically returns control of your audio hardware to PulseAudio. There is no longer a benefit to removing PulseAudio.

The move to jack2 is another example of the behind-the-scenes improvements that are a part of Fedora 14.

gtick

New to Fedora14, gtick is a metronome application supporting different meters and speeds up to 1000 bpm. Review the details at http://www.antcom.de/gtick/.

Qsynth

Qsynth is a graphical front-end for the FluidSynth software-based MIDI synthesizer. Qsynth lets you take advantage of the full capabilities of FluidSynth more easily. You can change all aspects of a FluidSynth setup, and even run multiple instances of the FluidSynth synthesizer, from within one Qsynth window.

Qsynth is explained in Chapter 10, "FluidSynth" of the new Musicians' Guide.

Musicians' Guide

With Fedora 14, the Documentation Project introduces a new user guide about music and audio software.