Bitwig

Enrize · Post by **Enrize** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:47 am

Ok, sometime ago i've used Retina Macbook Pro 13'' (Mid-2014) with built-in GPU. I've noticed while working in Bitwig with devices that has analyzers my GUI was very sluggish (like EQ, compressor etc). I wrote to support and explained my problem. The response was that its normal for such machine that i have.
Ok, no problem. I've bought brand new Macbook Pro 15'' 2017 with Radeon HD 555 (2GB Ram) but the GUI still very slow when using devices with analyzers (when i collapse such devices everything is silky smooth). I've installed iStatMenu to see what happens with CPU load and found out that devices with analyzers eats up to 50% more cpu. This is just not right! u-He Diva eats less cpu!
Can anyone confirm the same behaviour? Is this a bug or my 2500 USD machine is still not powerful enough to handle 2D graphics?

Please see the video : https://youtu.be/lSktNww-Ths

I really hope Bitwig team could address this issue in the next updated as this is simply not right.

P.S. in other DAWs everything is running with a speed of light.

magickalmutagen · Post by **magickalmutagen** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:32 am

On my Windows system looping the same section of the demo song, same track, same added compressor and EQ-5, Bitwig Studio's CPU usage increases from around 7% to 10% with the analysers open. I see your system goes from 14% to around 18% stable, which is about the same performance hit. From what I can see in the video, everything seems to be running very smoothly, and your FPS remains high, so I'm not quite sure what your issue is. 68% free CPU is pretty good.

Enrize · Post by **Enrize** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:39 am

Look at the "Processes" section. The load goes from 40% to 90%. And as i understand this is just the frontend app, not engine.
Its not smooth, if i will start scrolling or zooming it will be choppy and slow.

lehtiniemi · Post by **lehtiniemi** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:53 am

Can you see somewhere if Bitwig is actually using your external GPU and not only some built-in GPU?

On Windows (surface book) there's an external GPU but because of how Windows uses it, Bitwig can't take advantage of it. This means that the whole GUI is driven on some internal GPU which results choppiness when lots is happening on screen because the internal GPU uses CPU (it seems).

I don't know if there is something similar on Mac but I would check it out. It would explain why your external GPU doesn't help.

Enrize · Post by **Enrize** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 8:59 am

Yes, it uses Radeon Pro 555 because when i quit Bitwig Studio iStatMenu shows Intel HD Graphics 630 instead.

magickalmutagen · Post by **magickalmutagen** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:13 am

Enrize wrote:Look at the "Processes" section. The load goes from 40% to 90%. And as i understand this is just the frontend app, not engine.
Its not smooth, if i will start scrolling or zooming it will be choppy and slow.

I saw this, perhaps there is a problem, but the total User CPU usage seems fine. You need to capture some evidence of how Bitwig Studio is sluggish because I didn't see any evidence of that in your video. Then send that to the support, else they may give you the same response as last time.

Enrize · Post by **Enrize** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 9:39 am

magickalmutagen wrote:
Enrize wrote:Look at the "Processes" section. The load goes from 40% to 90%. And as i understand this is just the frontend app, not engine.
Its not smooth, if i will start scrolling or zooming it will be choppy and slow.
I saw this, perhaps there is a problem, but the total User CPU usage seems fine. You need to capture some evidence of how Bitwig Studio is sluggish because I didn't see any evidence of that in your video. Then send that to the support, else they may give you the same response as last time.

Here is the evidence (watch in 60fps) : https://youtu.be/fLPuj-CGTDA

magickalmutagen · Post by **magickalmutagen** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 10:09 am

Enrize wrote:Here is the evidence (watch in 60fps) : https://youtu.be/fLPuj-CGTDA

Windows does not have such smooth scrolling. You could temporarily disable inertial scrolling (via the Mac's system preferences) while you use Bitwig Studio to reduce the appearance of sluggishness. If inertial scrolling doesn't make a difference, see if you can disable smooth scrolling or scroll acceleration instead. I guess it'll get fixed one day, just make sure the devs are aware of the issue and they'll get to it eventually. In the meantime, you can only wait.

Enrize · Post by **Enrize** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 10:32 am

I definitely would love some optimisations in this area. I guess the problem is in SVG graphics which i think is great (i love that i can scale GUI down without any quality loss). This is actually one of the reasons i use Bitwig over Live. Its perfect for a HiDPI 15'' display. If there is nothing anyone can do about it without sacrificing benefits of SVG i can live with it

But i still believe something is wrong with those analyzers...

Bitwig

KVR Audio

CPU usage with analyzers is terrible (video included!)