JILL is a system for auditory behavioral and neuroscience experiments. It consists of several independent modules that handle stimulus presentation, vocalization detection, and data recording. With JILL, you can:
- record acoustic signals from microphones, triggering acquisition when signals reach a certain loudness
- record extracellular neural data from single or multiple electrodes
- present sets of acoustic stimuli, with control over the order, spacing, and repetition of individual stimuli.
- interface with digital I/O systems for monitoring behavior and giving reinforcement
- link modules in a low-latency real-time framework for closed-loop experiments
- use any existing JACK program, or write your own!
JILL uses the JACK audio framework (http://jackaudio.org) to route data between modules and to and from data acquisition (DAQ) hardware. JACK runs on Linux, OS X, and Windows, and supports a wide range of sound cards out of the box.
JILL and JACK do not require any specialized hardware. If you have a sound card in your computer, you can record audio or neural data. However, there is an ongoing effort to develop third-party drivers for general purpose DAQ cards, including the Intan RHD2000 eval board (see https://github.com/dmeliza/jack_rhd2000). JILL modules can interoperate with any existing JACK modules (e.g. for filtering, synthesis, and visualization). JACK is well-tested and has a large user community.
Want to learn more? Check out the wiki