jMax Released under GNU GPL

IRCAM announces the distribution of jMax, its software environment for music performance and real time digital audio processing, as free software under the GNU General Public License.

Since its first public release for the SGI and Linux platforms in early 1999, jMax has reached several hundred users that expressed high interest in the product and its development. This interest, added to the rapid growth of the Linux operating system and the effectiveness of the open development model, created the conditions for an opening of the jMax development.

By releasing jMax under GNU's General Public License, IRCAM brings a key contribution to the computer music community and to the adoption of Linux for the multimedia market.

jMax is the new generation of real time systems at IRCAM, designed to replace the Ircam Signal Processing Workstation. Based on a client/server architecture, wherein the two components are the C written real-time engine already known as FTS and a Java graphical user interface, jMax features a high portability level.

jMax is currently supported on SGI workstations and on Linux for Intel-compatible processors. Porting to other platforms are under development, including Alpha-Linux, Linux-PPC, Solaris, Apple MacOS X and Microsoft's Windows. Compatibilities with Max/MSP (IRCAM/Opcode/Cycling'74) currently running on MacOS will be pursued.

Support, documentation, tutorials, CDROMs and musical applications for jMax will be provided by the IRCAM Forum, the IRCAM user group accessible via a yearly subscription. IRCAM Forum can be reached at http://www.ircam.fr/departements/valorisation/forum/index-e.html.

jMax is currently being developed at IRCAM by the Real Time Systems team, lead by François Déchelle, with Maurizio de Cecco, Enzo Maggi and Norbert Schnell.

jMax is currently used in concert and in studio, at Ircam and on international tours, for productions featuring real time audio synthesis and processing, as well as for virtual reality interactive installations that combine image and sound synthesis.