Posted
Been a while. Updated Synfire. I see there has been graphical changes in the software (GUI).
Can't say from which version I updated. Haven't really touched it in quite a while.
Also the new font is terrible. Way too small on higher resolution and they look kinda fuzzy.
(Screenshot included as .png)
But somehow now it has horrible graphical performance. Actually
the worst of all applications that I have/use on OSX.
Just to clarify so that no one gives me the "problem has to be my system" sh***:
Stuff that runs without any problems even with big/full arrangements include:
DAWs: Reason/Logic/Cubase/DP9/PT11/Bitwig/StudioOne/FL Studio
Also without any problems:
Very demanding 3D design/animation packages that are VERY taxing on CPU/GPU.
(Including running CPU/GPU realtime viewport render engines)
I also work with Unity (C# 3D Game Engine) and Unreal Engine (!!) (C++ 3D
High End Game Engine) without any problems. So what is going on here?
I recorded a quicktime video and no, the framerate of the video isn't 5fps...
There is hardly anything in it, the playhead stutters like a stop-motion movie,
mouse reaction has a lag of at least a second.
Because .mov aren't allowed, I zipped it up, it's just 1MB. You'll see what I mean,
something must be very wrong here...
System/Setup Info:
OSX 10.14.6 - 32GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 RAM - 12-Core Xeon 2,4Ghz - NVIDIA GTX 680 2GB RAM - 2 x 30 inch Dual Displays running at 2560 x 1600)
Hope that helps.
Best,
tL.
Sun, 2020-08-23 - 13:46 Permalink
Just for the fun of it: I disconnected the second display and got my hands on a pretty powerful 8GB ATI Radeon RX.
Same awful performance, doesn't make any difference...
I recorded fullscreen this time (2560x1600) with a basically empty startup song.
Still extreme graphical lag. Zip with 10 sec quicktime movie attached, file size 1.6mb.
Mon, 2020-08-24 - 18:14 Permalink
It shouldn't look like this. I'm running basically the same 12-core Mac Pro with 10.14.6 and a GTX 680. I don't see these hefty delays here.
Your screenshots also look blurry. It should be full crisp 4K Retina (except for a few icons).
What happens after you do a Playback >> Reset? (this also resets some internal graphics)
Tue, 2020-08-25 - 03:08 Permalink
Playback --> Reset doesn't doesn't help.
The GUI also reacts slow (with lag/delay) in stop, i.e. when I just open up synfire
and drag/click random stuff. Not only when it's playing.
So I am not sure what is going on here.
I also checked the %CPU , but all normal there. I've seen GUIs react that way
when the CPU usage goes through the roof but all is nice and easy here.
Here's another short quicktime movie that demonstrates the extreme lag in stop. (Dragging Faders and stuff in the Matrix view)
Otherwise I need instructions how to erase everything (paths to prefs/ hidden prefs etc.)
and see what happens after a clean reinstall.
Tue, 2020-08-25 - 21:10 Permalink
This lag is weird. Thanks for taking the time to make the videos.
Some hidden preference is certainly not the culprit here. It is definitely a lag in graphics processing. It could be the scaling down to a low-resolution monitor. Possibly something makes Synfire believe you have a Retina screen, which could force it to scale up/down graphics unnecessarily.
Do you have a 4K monitor at hand for testing?
Although, on a 2015 MacBook Air (no Retina) Synfire performs fine.
If I can find a big enough low-resolution monitor, I will make a test and let you know.
Tue, 2020-08-25 - 21:16 Permalink
For a test, set the application to open in low resolution (Synfire Pro.app - Command-I)
Wed, 2020-08-26 - 23:34 Permalink
For a test, set the application to open in low resolution (Synfire Pro.app - Command-I)
No, there's no such option there.
Do you have a 4K monitor at hand for testing?
Unfortunately, I do not.
Also, I want to note again that this is only the case since the newer build which introduced the (kinda) reworked GUI.
I did not have those problems before at all. Is there a possibility to roll back to a version before that?
Is there a place where I can download older builds? It seems like only the last build is available for download.
Would be a good thing in general if there are more options than that...
Thu, 2020-08-27 - 16:19 Permalink
I did not have those problems before at all. Is there a possibility to roll back to a version before that?
In theory yes, but since Apple changed the launch daemon with a recent macOS update, the new build is required for Catalina and later.
What was your last running version?
Thu, 2020-08-27 - 17:22 Permalink
Update: Just tested on Mac Pro 5.1 macOS 10.14.6 with a GTX 680 (2GB) and a low-res monitor. All snappy and normal. Same on a MacBook Air with external 2K monitor. I doubt the new build alone is the problem.
Please try disabling the NVIDIA Web Driver, if you're using that. It's outdated and no longer maintained by NVIDIA for quite a while. Everything runs fine here with the "Default macOS Graphics Driver".
Thu, 2020-08-27 - 18:18 Permalink
Please try disabling the NVIDIA Web Driver, if you're using that. It's outdated and no longer maintained by NVIDIA for quite a while. Everything runs fine here with the "Default macOS Graphics Driver".
For me it was disabled by default since I've upgraded to Mojave as there is no NVIDIA driver support anymore for Mojave?
And I am running an ATI Radeon Card right now so I don't understand quite what I am supposed to do here...?
Also I do not know what the latest version of Synfire was that I had installed prior.
Didn't touch it for at least a year, probably quite longer I think.
Can't remember, I have no clue.
Thu, 2020-08-27 - 19:22 Permalink
Whatever is left over of NVIDIA drivers should not affect your ATI card.
Since we seem to be running almost identical hardware (assuming the GTX 680) and macOS, I wonder what's different with your Mac that would cause Synfire to behave this way. I can't reproduce it yet. Mojave runs great with the GTX 680 using the macOS default driver. I have no ATI card to test unfortunately.
Please contact me at support at cognitone dot com, so I can lookup what your last download was.