Managing Audio Devices

Connecting an Audio Device

The Audio Devices page will list all Virtual Studio devices (using Raspberry Pi hardware with our disk image) that are registered to your account. When not connected to an audio server, these will have a blue icon and most fields will be disabled.

To connect a device, use the "Select a Server" drop-down to choose a Running audio server, and then click on the "green "CONNECT" button.

Once your device connects to the server, the icon color will change to be green, yellow or red. The color indicates the quality of your Internet connection, including the path from your device to the audio server. The device continuously sends ICMP ping messages to the server in order to measure various statistics, which are displayed below the device settings. These are updated every 5 seconds and include:

• Packet loss (if greater than zero, the device will be red)
• Range of round-trip latency
• Average round-trip latency
• Standard deviation round-trip latency (jitter)

In general, the higher these statistics become, the more your device color will transition towards red, and the more difficult it will be for your to perform music with others who are connected to the server.

If the statistics show 100% packet loss, it is often caused by the ICMP ping traffic being blocked by your router. Please see Troubleshooting Firewall Ports.

Use the red "DISCONNECT FROM SERVER" to disconnect your device whenever you are finished. We also recommend that you disconnect your microphone or unplug your device when not in use, to be extra certain that no audio is being transmitted.

Audio Device Settings

Note that different types of supported sound cards offer different settings, so not all settings may be available for your device.

Input Volume

Drag the slider to the right to raise your input (microphone) volume, or left to lower it. Some microphones require high input volume levels to work properly. Click the speaker icon left of the slider to mute your device (by setting the level to zero). Click the speaker icon right of the slider to raise this to the maximum value.

This slider will be disabled for sound cards which have manual volume dials, or do not support input level changes via software (such as the HiFiBerry ADC DAC+ Standard).

The "Boost" toggle is currently inactive for most sound cards. For the Audio Injector Stereo, it will toggle between the embedded microphone and the RCA inputs.

Output Volume

Drag the slider to the right to raise your output (headphone) volume, or left to lower it. Every headphone requires different levels of output volume to drive them properly. Click the speaker icon left of the slider to mute your output volume (by setting the level to zero). Click the speaker icon right of the slider to raise this to the maximum value.

This slider will be disabled for sound cards which have manual volume dials.

The "Boost" toggle is currently inactive for most sound cards. For the HiFiBerry ADC DAC+ Pro, it can be used to enable additional amplification.

Reverb

Note: this setting only applies to JackTrip audio servers.

This setting enables you to control the level of reverb that your device adds to the output mix. It only impacts what you hear, not the audio that is sent from you to the server.

Quality

Note: this setting requires firmware version 2020102003 or later.

This setting enables you to maximize quality of audio that you hear and send to others, within the unique constraints of your Internet connection.

If you are connected to a "JackTrip" server, this will be fixed to the sample rate value configured for the server.

If you are connected to a "Jamulus" server, you will have two options:

• Low Quality (300 Kbps, Lossy)
• Medium Quality (500 Kbps, Lossy)

Please note: "Low Quality" and "Medium Quality" can cause musicians who are using balanced audio cables to be inaudible. See this article for more information.

The bandwidth rates (300 and 500 Kbps) are the minimum speed requirements -- both upload and download -- for your Internet connection.

If you are connecting to a "JackTrip+Jamulus" server, you will have an additional option for lossless JackTrip audio quality, for the sample rate value configured on the server.

Samples

This setting controls the number of audio samples grouped into frames for each period of time. Smaller values can result in lower latency, but can place higher demands on your Internet connection. Select the lowest value that enables you to hear clear audio without experiencing static or other audio issues.

Queue

Note: this setting only applies to JackTrip audio servers.

This setting controls the queue size of the network jitter buffer for audio you receive from a server. Similar to period, smaller values can result in lower latency, but can place higher demands on your Internet connection. This defaults to "auto" which means that it will automatically adjust to an optimal value for your Internet connection.

Port

Note: this setting only applies to JackTrip audio servers.

This setting enables you to change the port number used by your audio device. If you have multiple devices sharing the same Internet connection, they must all use unique port numbers.

Limiter

Note: this setting only applies to JackTrip audio servers.

When enabled, a limiter is applied to your audio before sending it to the server. This prevents disturbing clipping noises, and should probably always be enabled.

Compressor

Note: this setting only applies to JackTrip audio servers.

When enabled, a compressor is applied to your audio before sending it to the server. This helps to automatically bring the volume level of each musician down into a certain range. We have found it is especially useful for choruses.

Device Firmware Version

The number displayed in the lower left corner of a device card is the firmware version number currently active on the device. Whenever you plug in power for your device, it will automatically download and install any new firmware patches that are available, before starting up. Because of this, you should always wait a few minutes after plugging in your device before using it.

WARNING: Removing power while a device is applying firmware updates may cause it to corrupt your MicroSD card. If this happens, you can fix it by flashing the card with the latest firmware image and re-register it by navigating to http://jacktrip.local

Other Device Buttons

There are a few additional buttons located in the lower right hand corner of your device card:

This enables you to change the descriptive name of your device.

Use this to permanently remove your device. You can later re-register it by navigating to http://jacktrip.local

This links to a unique page for managing a specific audio device.