Update on this. I installed mate as another desktop environment and I don't get the audio problems with the gui open anymore. Before that I tried some of the suggestions like a 32bit wineprefix, buffer size and could not solve it in xfce. After I installed mate it just worked. The vst that was having the problems is called superior drummer 2

Sorry greenjeans it worked it was my stupidity. I was waiting for it to scan expecting the songs to appear and kept pressing re-scan. i didn't realise I just had to click Music below Artists/Albums. I didn't figure this out until I installed the new version. Also it found both .wav and .mp3

1) Code that would reconnect an app to the same output it used before. Now whenever VLC changes track it switches back to the default output.

I had trouble with this. jack-bridge uses jack-connection-manager.c in the src files, jack-auto-connect in contrib/usr/lib/jack-bridge and jack-route-select contrib/usr/local/lib/jack-bridge/jack-route-select. They all work together with greenjeans mxeq.c. There could be something in there that helps. Also as greenjeans suggested check out his code he actually knows what he is doing.

For bluetooth I am not sure. I got the chat bots to rebuild bluealsa without systemd. I left all that info in the repo as well.

@greengeans

I'm not sure about a mixer in xfce I only used yours when you showed me your gui. I have removed the eq part from jack-bridge now as when I try to add more features like surround sound, computer keeps saying no because everything goes through equal first.

As for heroes you're the hero mate, and modest to. I've been using vuudo mini and it's off the charts, you really know your stuff. I installed it on a laptop I bought for work 15 years ago which came with windows 7 and it was a piece of shit. I could never record anything in reaper without crackles and pops and vuudo handles recording my vsts running in wine easy. This thing has 4gb of ram and a cpu that by todays standards belongs in the bin. Seriously it does everything I need and your openbox config shits all over xfce, which I'm a huge fan of xfce. The only bug I've got is no sound when i switch to hdmi in alsatune, the screens a bit knocked around so i connect it to my tele with hdmi and use my audio interface for the sound which alsatune switches to and works.

What i installed in vuudo mini to have everything I need as an end user. Brave, reaper, yabridge, wine-staging, winetricks, libre office writer and openvpn. And the best bit, It's devuan 5. I know devuan team does a lot of work to keep up to date but bookworm is where it's at for me. Vuudo should be an offical devuan release it's awesome.

If you're trying to make it user friendly, there might be something in the jack-bridge code that could help. https://github.com/rations/jack-bridge but beware it's all generated by chat bots but it might help give you some ideas. Looks like you're on a winner.

Try installing winetricks sudo apt install winetricks type winetricks in the terminal to open the GUI. Select use default wine prefix then select uninstaller. You can install with the remove/install button. I only install vsts but they're all in the default prefix.

Maybe winetricks could help

Looks way more polished then the big red rectangle, good job. Did you have any luck with the auto detect? There is some code in the jack-bridge mxeq version that could help if you're interested. But it's generated from chat bots and I know this doesn't sit well with most people but if could give you some ideas.

Another update if anyone is interested. Chat bots fixed gui to fit on the screen. It now has a maximum 8 columns and a vertical scroll bar appears to add rows when it detects more then 8 items.

Also added a toggle to the bluetooth section of the gui to turn discovery and pairing on and off as desired for a bit of a security feature so you are not broadcasting your device to the world when bluetooth is not being used.

All the info is here https://github.com/rations/jack-bridge/ … i-overhaul

https://github.com/rations/jack-bridge/ … -bluetooth

This is the branch I am working on it has all the bluetooth information and also switching between internal, usb, hdmi and bluetooth in real time. So far usb, and internal switching works, I have not tested hdmi and bluetooth switches but no sound yet.

I've updated AlsaTune to include mute buttons, a bluetooth section, and a devices section to switch between internal, usb, hdmi and bluetooth. I also renamed it to Alsa Sound Connect and changed the icon. Thanks greenjeans for reaching out and showing me your GUI.
   
I looked into BlueAlsa and went from there. I have discovered there is a lot involved with bluetooth. I insisted to the chat bots that this has to work without systemd and pulseaudio which bluez contains a pulseaudio bluetooth module, so it uses parts from bluez and bluez-tools. It created scripts to use sysV. Also it created binaries for BlueAlsa with out systemd parts but I need to go back through the history to find out how it did this so it can be seen and if anyone wants to build from source. I don't dig AI either but the internet didn't disappear after the dot com bubble burst and either is AI. I wish I could code and understand the language because if you can, you could use these tools way better then me. To me not using it is like using a hammer to build a house and refusing to use a nail gun. The builder who stuck with the hammer went broke.
   
These are all the packages REQUIRED_PACKAGES="jackd2 alsa-utils libasound2-plugins apulse qjackctl libasound2-plugin-equal swh-plugins libgtk-3-0 bluez bluez-tools dbus policykit-1 imagemagick"

Provisioning and runtime notes for BlueALSA integration (jack-bridge) I need to update this the autobridge daemon was a complete disaster.
====================================================================

Purpose
-------
This document explains the provisioning actions required to run BlueALSA and integrate Bluetooth audio into JACK
on systemd-free Debian-like systems. There is no autobridge daemon anymore; routing is handled in JACK via
the helper /usr/local/lib/jack-bridge/jack-route-select and settings in /etc/jack-bridge/devices.conf. The provided
helper script `contrib/setup-bluetooth.sh` automates the common steps, and this file documents what to verify manually.

Summary of actions performed by contrib/setup-bluetooth.sh
---------------------------------------------------------
1. Ensure system user
   - Creates a system user `bluealsa` with no login shell if it does not already exist:
     `useradd --system --no-create-home --shell /usr/sbin/nologin --user-group bluealsa`
   - Running as a dedicated user reduces attack surface and keeps state files owned by that user.

2. Create persistent state directory
   - Creates `/var/lib/bluealsa` if missing and sets ownership to `bluealsa:bluealsa` and permissions `0700`.
   - This directory stores BlueALSA persistent state and must be protected.

3. Devices config and routing helper
   - The installer writes `/etc/jack-bridge/devices.conf` with defaults:
     - INTERNAL_DEVICE, USB_DEVICE, HDMI_DEVICE, BLUETOOTH_DEVICE
     - BT_PERIOD, BT_NPERIODS
     - PREFERRED_OUTPUT
   - Runtime routing is performed by `/usr/local/lib/jack-bridge/jack-route-select` which rewires JACK ports and spawns
     alsa_out for USB/HDMI/Bluetooth targets as needed. The GUI Devices panel calls this helper; no separate daemon required.

4. Install D-Bus policy
   - If `usr/share/dbus-1/system.d/org.bluealsa.conf` exists in the repo, it is copied to
     `/usr/share/dbus-1/system.d/org.bluealsa.conf` with mode `0644`. This policy allows the
     `bluealsa` user to own the `org.bluealsa` D-Bus name and permits members of the `audio`
     group to use the service.
   - NOTE: `usr/share/dbus-1/system.d` is a D‑Bus system-bus policy directory (XML files)
     used by the system D-Bus daemon to control which users/groups can own or talk to
     particular D-Bus names. This is NOT related to systemd. The presence of this file
     in the repository simply provides an optional, ready-made D-Bus policy that the
     provisioning script can copy into the system D-Bus policy directory on systems
     where you want the `bluealsa` user to be permitted to own `org.bluealsa`.

5. Add target user to audio group
   - The script adds a target user (passed as an argument or auto-detected) to the `audio` group so
     they can access ALSA devices and BlueALSA mixers without root.

6. Create GUI module stubs
   - Creates placeholder C files:
     - `src/bt_agent.c`
     - `src/gui_bt.c`
     - `src/bt_bridge.c`
   - These are stubs intended to be expanded with the BlueZ Agent (pairing) and GUI controls.

Manual verification checklist
-----------------------------
- Confirm `bluealsa` user exists:
  id bluealsa

- Confirm /var/lib/bluealsa:
  ls -ld /var/lib/bluealsa
  Should be owned by bluealsa:bluealsa and mode 0700.

- Confirm D-Bus policy present:
  ls -l /usr/share/dbus-1/system.d/org.bluealsa.conf

- Confirm devices configuration:
  ls -l /etc/jack-bridge/devices.conf
  cat /etc/jack-bridge/devices.conf

- Confirm target user in audio group:
  id <your-user>   # should show 'audio' in groups

Integration notes
-----------------
- The init scripts provided in contrib/init.d/ are SysV-style and should be installed by package maintainer or copied
  into `/etc/init.d/` and enabled via `update-rc.d` or equivalent for your distribution.
- There is no autobridge daemon. Routing is handled by JACK using `/usr/local/lib/jack-bridge/jack-route-select`
  and preferences in `/etc/jack-bridge/devices.conf`.
- No systemd, PulseAudio, or PipeWire are required. The provisioning script and init scripts are written to work on sysvinit-like systems.

When I was a kid winding up my grandparents gramophone and listening to all the crackles and the tempo getting slower and slower is something I'll never forget.

I added the recording features to the AlsaTune GUI. Options include stereo, mono, 48000Hz or 41000Hz. It saves the .wav file into the Music directory. You can adjust the eq whilst recording. I think I'll stop there for now and move onto bluetooth. Changes are on github with a screenshot. https://github.com/rations/jack-bridge