Deja vu, anyone? The same day that plasq has released their solution for sending audio over a network, Wormhole2, the new Tiger-ready version of Jack is out. Unlike Wormhole, Jack is Open Source, though it’s also Mac- (and Linux-) only; no Windows. Mac users, you don’t have to choose between the two: Jack is great for connecting audio apps to one another, not just computers, so you might use Jack for inter-app audio and Wormhole2 for network audio, if, like me, you’ve got a PC around, too. Jack developer Dan Nigrin writes that the new Jack is “compatible with Tiger, including its distributed audio devices feature… and including audio-over-network capabilities as before.” Read more for full specs (and a call for developers!).
Dan writes:
“There’s a few additional bug fixes, as well as the ability to now use Tiger’s “Aggregate Audio Devices” – this is helpful if you had a previously incompatible USB Audio device – please see the documentation for details.”
“I’d like to acknowledge the beta testing team that helped us in
testing this version, as well as to recognize the efforts of
Stéphane Letz, who is now essentially single-handedly updating the
Jack OS X code! (If you are a developer willing and able to assist
on future versions, please contact us!).”
Stay tuned as I look at the various network-audio / MIDI solutions available. So far, this is a bit apples-to-oranges: Wormhole has Windows support, Jack does not; Jack does app connections, Wormhole does not; Wormhole looks easier to configure for network audio. You may want both. More soon.