#67 Skype integration is no longer supported

[Lybomir Angelov]

Since the release of Skype version 4.3 it is no longer possible to integrate Skype VOIP with IDJC. In the new skype version the support for alsa has been dropped, and there is no way to select the alsa virtual plugs for JACK. The bad thing is that we can't even use the old version 4.2 because skype banned the login from that client, and the only possible way to login is with version 4.3

How should we handle this? Is there a way to configure PulseAudio to work with JACK plugs as PA is the only supported audio device in Skype?

[Christian Hennecke]

I don't know if this helps but I have redirected all PulseAudio stuff to JACK and can use Skype just fine. Funny enough, the audio quality is even better than it was with PulseAudio alone. I haven't tried hooking up Skype with IDJC so far, though.

[Lybomir Angelov]

Hi, if skype can send and receive the sound from JACK than I think it would be possible to wire it up back again in IDJC.

Is there some good guide how to redirect pulse audio to JACK. From what i have experienced so far nothing worked.

And i don't know if it matters but there is no real sound device on the machine running IDJC, the JACK is started with the dummy driver.

[Christian Hennecke]

The following worked for me on Linux Mint:

• Install JACK

• Install pulseaudio-module-jack and qjackctl

• Add the following to /etc/security/limits.conf:

@audio - rtprio 99
@audio - memlock unlimited
@audio - nice -19

• Add your user to the audio group

• In /etc/pulse/default.pa add the following below #load-module module-alsa-sink:

load-module module-jack-sink
load-module module-jack-source

• Reboot. Next start will probably take a bit longer.

• Use qjackctl to configure JACK like layed out at http://naiux.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/idjc-shoutcast-setup-guide/ with the exception of the startup and shutdown scripts. In the first tab, select your sound device.

• Use a JACK-compatible application to see if everything works.

• If yes, use your audio settings to change the whole system to use "PulseAudio JACK Sink" for output

[Hugo G.]

This change bit me in the transition to Skype 4.3. It's easier to use the Pulseaudio Jack module, but it can be taxing on the machine.

I take Skype calls on my live show, so I have a separate machine to take the calls and avoid Skype hogging the resources on the PC that streams.

On the machine with Skype, I have Pulseaudio, Jack with a dummy driver, and the Pulseaudio jack module. I run a jacktrip client there to send source and sink stereo over the LAN to the machine with IDJC.

On the machine with IDJC I run a jacktrip server that receives the audio from Skype and route it to IDJC's VoIP ports.

Voila! Perfect audio over the LAN and low CPU usage on the IDJC machine, no drops.

[nik charles]

Suggestion from Hugo G to run Skype on another device is best option

For those who still need to run Skype on same machine, pulseaudio-jack module allows connection from Pulseaudio to Jack. Since Pulseaudio v6.0 it is also possible to add more than one pulse sink/source connection to Jack. This allows other non-skype audio to be redirected to the Aux in channels too

I have recently done a step by step guide, with lots of screenshots, to help new Linux users get started using IDJC here. Most of this information will work for any Linux distribution. There are many ways to improve and extend this approach. I hope to be adding extra information articles in the near future about this. I am also trying to encourage colleagues to add information about their use of ALSA loopbacks instead of Pulse