Support

Jackplate support

Something not working, a question, or an idea for the app? Write to me with the form below. Underneath it are the answers to the problems people run into most, which may get you playing again in less time than it takes me to reply.

Write to me

Every message is read by the person who wrote the app, and answered as quickly as I can. No account, no ticket system, no newsletter.

This message is about Jackplate. For any of the other apps, there is the support page for all of them.

Those three are optional, and they are a great help when a Mac app is misbehaving. You will find the app version in the menu, under About.

Your message goes straight to my inbox. This form needs no JavaScript and sets no cookie.

Before you write, this may already be it

Jackplate needs an audio interface, and most of what goes wrong is about that connection. The full guide lives inside the app, in the Help menu, under Jackplate Guide.

What the app needs

  • macOS 14 or later.
  • An audio interface, with your guitar plugged into it. This is the one requirement people miss: without an interface, the app opens and says so, and there is nothing for it to play. Jackplate uses a single device for input and output; to combine two, build an aggregate device in Audio MIDI Setup and select that one.
  • Microphone permission. macOS asks for it the first time, because that is how any app receives audio input, a guitar included.
  • Jackplate runs at 48 kHz, is sandboxed, and collects no data.

My interface is not in the INPUT list

INPUT lists only the devices that have both an input and an output. If yours is missing, macOS is reporting it as one way only. Open Audio MIDI Setup, combine the input and the output into an aggregate device, then choose that device in Jackplate.

The display says STOPPED

The audio engine is not running. Check that the interface is connected, that it is the one selected under INPUT, and that CHANNEL points at the input your guitar is actually plugged into.

No sound at all

  • The display says no model: no capture is loaded yet, so there is nothing to play through.
  • Mute is on, or the tuner is open. Both silence the output on purpose.
  • Microphone permission was denied. Grant it in System Settings, Privacy & Security, Microphone, then relaunch Jackplate.
  • A preset with a very low GAIN was loaded. Watch the input strip: if it barely moves, that is where the sound went.

The display says no model

Jackplate ships empty on purpose: it comes with no captures inside, so you choose what it plays. Load a NAM capture file, and if that capture is of an amp head on its own, load a cabinet impulse response as well. Free captures and impulse responses are at tone3000.com.

The display says OFF TARGET

Jackplate runs at 48 kHz. If something else changes your interface's sample rate behind your back, the display says OFF TARGET and offers Restore 48k. One click puts it back.

Clicks and dropouts

  • Raise BUFFER one step and listen again. It trades a little delay for headroom.
  • On an A2 capture, click the Full chip to switch to Lite: the same capture in a lighter model.
  • Quit whatever else is competing for the interface.

Jackplate is free, has no account and no in-app purchase, and is made by WPTRAT, Mauro Lopes, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For anything that is not about Jackplate, there is the support page for all the apps.