JACKBYTES was inspired by the discovery that seemingly the
'best' way to get sound data from other applications into a
'Processing' sketch was by using a non-open non-free library , that
only works on Microsoft Windows platforms. Now that 'Processing' is
open, this was a missing link for for artists wishing to use an open
toolchain for creating reactive audio-visual applciations in
'processing'
Although some similar usage may be feasable with either java-jack or
using OSC, a simple single-purpose server was developed to simply
send a packet of sound data or sound spectrum data to the application,
using a network port. The spectrum may be obtained by using FFTW
(arbitrary size packet) or a hard-coded simple fft routine (2**n size
data packet only)
A 'processing' client was written to allow nearly drop-in replacement
(a network port needs to be specified) of the non-free library, and to
allow direct use of the (open) sonia-helper library. A c++ client
object was written to allow any C++ application to use the server. The
specification is so simple that clients for other languages shoudl be
very easy to write, the trade-off is that of course the program does
not do very much!
A simple 'launcher' using fltk and system() call has been written, this should allow easy integration into a gui menu.
Minimal version:
Software: c++ , C compilers (gcc) and standard libraries
Jack audio connection kit
FFTW library (optional)
FLTK library for the launcher applet