There has been mention elsewhere about piping Jacktrip audio output into a computer via an Audio Interface like FocusRite. However, in my case I was able to do the same at considerably less expense, and then pipe the audio into a Zoom meeting for people who couldn’t participate via Jacktrip, who could even sing along on mute.
My tested configuration is to plug Jacktrip audio out into a headphone amp/splitter (in my case a Bluecoil 4-channel headphone amplifier, about $30), and then one headphone output to my headphones and another to the computer. In my case (a modern Macbook) I couldn’t plug the 3.5 mm TRS male-male cable directly into the audio jack in my computer (it’s output only) so I plugged it into an old Griffin iMic (currently discontinued) and the iMic into a USB port, set up the Zoom preferences to use the iMic as audio input, turned on sound sharing in the Zoom meeting, and it worked well. There seem to be many modern equivalents of the iMic available for $15-$20.
The singers participating via Zoom felt it was a pretty good experience: they heard the choir sound in their headphones and felt part of a community singing rather than that they were doing an isolated solo.
In our case, we also use SuperCollider mixer software to pan two sections into one ear and the other sections into the other ear, so there is some sense even for the Zoomers of hearing their own section distinctly as if they’re standing together in a rehearsal space.
I’d say good for early preparation, but not a replacement for all stages of getting ready for a performance: .the conductor of course can only hear and tune those on Jacktrip.
This sounds really great – exactly what I’d like to start doing. We’re self-hosted (40ms delay to our nearest virtual studio in Columbus, Ohio), using a laptop running Ubuntu Studio (a version of Ubuntu Linux that’s optimized for real-time audio).
Ideally, I’d have that same laptop feed audio to the Zoom session – CPU load is fairly light even with all six of our JTs connected, so it seems like that might be doable. If that works out, seems like there would be a way to source the Zoom audio directly from . . . well, from the virtual studio, or from JACK itself? Anyone have a hint where to start looking for that?
For sending VS to Zoom: in Zoom audio settings, send the VS to an audio interface and select the same interface in Zoom. All other Zoom participants should be muted. Only the one sending audio to Zoom is unmuted.
For sending from the laptop or JACK, I don’t know if it will run on Ubuntu Studio, but I’ve had good results on my Catalina Mac with BlackHole: BlackHole: Route Audio Between Apps and
Update on this topic: I realized and tested use of Google Meetings instead of Zoom, and found it works just fine. Trick is this: once the Google Meeting is started, hit the three vertical dot button, open the settings panel, go to Audio settings, and set the mic/input to the device you’re piping Jacktrip in from. Here is a picture (I jhope it comes through) to show that with my iMic input from the Jacktrip bridge headphone output:
