JACK_CAPTURE(1)

👑 JACK_CAPTURE — the Debian manual page, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, welcome to JACK_CAPTURE(1) from the General Commands Manual section. this is the page for jack_capture, a program for recording literally anything from jack. grab a snack, we're going in 🍓

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✨ NAME ✨

jack_capture — a program for recording anything from jack 🎙️

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

jack_capture [options]
bar [options]

(yes, bar is really in there. we don't ask questions, we just report the facts 💅)

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so this manual page documents the jack_capture command briefly. quick lore drop: this manual page was written for the Debian distribution because the original program does not have a manual page. so we made one. you're welcome 🫶

jack_capture is a cli program for recording any audio signal from jack to audio audio formats supported by the libsndfile library (wav, aiff, ogg, flac, wavex, au, etc.) 🔥

for more info about libsndfile see <http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/api.html#open> — well, the URL is http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/api.html#open, go read it, it's giving documentation energy ✨

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

these programs follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (-). a summary of options is included below, and no we did not skip any, we would never 🙈

• -b, --bitdepth n — is by default FLOAT. it can be set to either 8, 16, 24 or 32. (for relevant formats) ⭐
• -c, --channels n — is by default 2. 🎧
• -p, --port port — is by default set to the two first physical outputs. the port argument can be specified more than once. 👑
• -d, --duration s — recording is stopped after s seconds. ⏱️
• -z, --leading-zeros n — n is the number of zeros to in the autogenerated filename. (-z 2 -> jack_capture_001.wav, and so on.) (default is 1) 🎀
• -f, --format format — selects fileformat provided by libsndfile. see http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/api.html#open (default is wav for 1 or 2 channels, and wavex for more than 2.) 🌈
• -pf, --print-formats — prints all sound formats provided to sndfile to screen and then exits. 🖨️
• -v, --version — prints out version. 💜
• -s, --silent — suppress some common messages printed to the terminal. 🤫
• -V, --verbose] — prints some extra information to the terminal. (yes, the ] is in the original, we are simply honoring it, no cap 💀)
• -mp3, --mp3 — writes to an mp3 file using liblame (LAME). (the --format option has no effect using this option) 🎵
• -mp3q, --mp3-quality n — selects mp3 quality provided by liblame. n=0 is best, n=9 is worst. default n is 2. (0 uses the most amount of CPU, 9 uses the least) ⚡
• -mp3b, --mp3-bitrate n — selects mp3 bitrate (in kbit/s). default is set by liblame. (currently 128) 📶
• -ws, --write-to-stdout — writes 16 bit little endian to stdout. (the --format option, the --mp3 option, and some others have no effect using this option) 🫶
• -dm, --disable-meter — disable console meter. 🙈
• -hbu, --hide-buffer-usage — disable buffer usage. 🚫
• -dc, --disable-console — disable console updates. same as -dm -hbu. 💤
• -lm, --linear-meter — use linear scale for the console meter (default is dB scale). 📏
• -dBr, --dB-meter-reference — specify reference level for dB meter. (default=0) 🎚️
• -mb, --meterbridge — start up meterbridge to monitor recorded sound. 🌉
• -mt, --meterbridge-type — specify type. vu (default), ppm, dpm, jf or sco. 🎛️
• -mr, --meterbridge-reference — specify reference level for meterbidge. 🎯
• -jt, --jack-transport — start program, but do not start recording until jack transport has started rolling. when jack transport stops, the recording is stopped, and the program ends. 🚂
• -jtm, --jack-transport-multi — similar to --jack-transport, but do not end program when jack transport stops. instead, record to a new file when jack_transport start rolling again. (not implemented yet) 😭
• -B, --bufsize s — initial/minimum buffer size in seconds. default is 8 seconds for mp3 files, and 4 seconds for all other formats. 🧺
• -MB, --maxbufsize — maximum buffer size in seconds. jack_capture will allocate. default is 40. (buffer is automatically increased during 🫠 — the source text just... stops there. we report, we don't finish sentences for people.)
• -fn, --filename — specify filename. (it's usually easier to set last argument instead) 📝

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

jack_capture [--bitdepth n] [--channels n] [--port port] [filename]

jack_capture [-b n] [-c n] [-p port] [filename]

and now the vibe-by-vibe ones:

jack_capture

to record a stereo file of what you hear. 👂

ack_capture -f flac

to record a stereo file of what you hear in the flac format. (yes, ack_capture — typo's canon now, we keep it fr fr 💀)

jack_capture -f ogg

to record a stereo file of what you hear in the ogg format. 🎶

jack_capture -mp3

to record a stereo file of what you hear in the mp3 format. 🎧

jack_capture --channels 2 --port system:playback*

to record a stereo file of what you hear in the wav format. 🌊

jack_capture --port jamin:out* sound_from_jamin.wav

to record the output from jamin. 📤

jack_capture --port jamin:in* sound_to_jamin.wav

to record all sound coming in to jamin. 📥

jack_capture --port jamin* sound_to_and_from_jamin.wav

to record all sound coming in and out of jamin. 🔁

jack_capture -c 2 -p system:capture*

to record a stereo file from the soundcard. 💳 (ok not a credit card, the sound card. still iconic)

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🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

jackd(1).

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💖 AUTHOR 💖

jack_capture was written by Kjetil Matheussen. 👑

this manual page was written by Jaromír Mikeš <mira.mikes@seznam.cz>, for the Debian project (but may be used by others). 🫶

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and that's the whole thing, bestie! this lil page is from the JACK_CAPTURE(1) manual, dated July 28, 2010 — yes, 2010, vintage, retro, the original main character energy 👑✨ thanks for reading, mwah 💅🎀🦋