Sluggish/sloooow GUI Bitwig 2.23 macOS Sierra 10.12.6

[Beerhunter]

Hi guys,

at least from 2.3 Beta2 i would say that there are some improvements, on the gui performance, as far as i can tell.

So just hold your breath, or try Beta2 if have a licence

Cheers

[nickallen]

The GUI is currently rendered entirely on the CPU using Cairo graphics library. The performance problems are not to do with our use of Java at all but just the shear number of pixels that have to be painted by the CPU and some areas where we haven't optimized the painting as much as we could (by reducing the painting to just the areas that needs updating and not painting layers that don't need to be for example). However, we are also working on offloading much of the painting to the GPU via OpenGL (at least for all the fast moving stuff like meters, oscilloscope and arranger/note editor). This will make a HUGE difference but I can't say when it will be ready - but rest assured we are aware of the issue and actively working to fix it by making use of the GPU in the long run. So the good news is we should be able to fix this and make it very snappy assuming you have a decent graphics card.

[antic604]

The GUI is currently rendered entirely on the CPU using Cairo graphics library. The performance problems are not to do with our use of Java at all but just the shear number of pixels that have to be painted by the CPU and some areas where we haven't optimized the painting as much as we could (by reducing the painting to just the areas that needs updating and not painting layers that don't need to be for example). However, we are also working on offloading much of the painting to the GPU via OpenGL (at least for all the fast moving stuff like meters, oscilloscope and arranger/note editor). This will make a HUGE difference but I can't say when it will be ready - but rest assured we are aware of the issue and actively working to fix it by making use of the GPU in the long run. So the good news is we should be able to fix this and make it very snappy assuming you have a decent graphics card.

Awesome!

Please make it a priority, because Bitwig's public image suffers from this "poorly coded in Java" thing, which is spread even by its faithful fans...

[anoise]

but rest assured we are aware of the issue and actively working to fix it by making use of the GPU in the long run. So the good news is we should be able to fix this and make it very snappy assuming you have a decent graphics card.

Good news
Does Bitwig on windows also only use the CPU for rendering?

[nsq]

Good news
Does Bitwig on windows also only use the CPU for rendering?

From my observations it appears that Bitwig has the best graphics performance on Linux, where the Cairo library originally came from.

[Enrize]

The GUI is currently rendered entirely on the CPU using Cairo graphics library. The performance problems are not to do with our use of Java at all but just the shear number of pixels that have to be painted by the CPU and some areas where we haven't optimized the painting as much as we could (by reducing the painting to just the areas that needs updating and not painting layers that don't need to be for example). However, we are also working on offloading much of the painting to the GPU via OpenGL (at least for all the fast moving stuff like meters, oscilloscope and arranger/note editor). This will make a HUGE difference but I can't say when it will be ready - but rest assured we are aware of the issue and actively working to fix it by making use of the GPU in the long run. So the good news is we should be able to fix this and make it very snappy assuming you have a decent graphics card.

Thank you for detailed explanation Nick. I really hope you can improve the performance as soon as possible. I already have to use Logic Pro X for big projects as i simply cannot work comfortably in Bitwig on 5K display. I start my projects in Bitwig and then render it to Logic to finish, not the best workflow i must say

Anyway i'm glad that you're working on it!

Oh and BTW people...i've told you GPU is not affecting anything here...

[antic604]

Oh and BTW people...i've told you GPU is not affecting anything here...

[Hanz Meyzer]

Ah wow this is great news, and finally a clear statement from the devs!

So later, we will also have more cpu resources available for pure audio DSP calculation.

[Enrize]

This should be highest priority imo. As no matter how many cool features you have if everything is so laggy and slow.
It will scary away potential customers.

At least a little optimisation before OpenGL rendering would be more than welcome.

[_TLG_]

This should be highest priority imo. As no matter how many cool features you have if everything is so laggy and slow.

totally agree, I have so many lags and cpu spikes on my macbook (i7, build-in GPU)that I moved back to my old DAW...(only because i can't make music in Bitwig)

I love Bitwig, but now I will wait for the FIX before I renew my subscription...

This should be priority.

[Hanz Meyzer]

Would agree, too

[connmach]

They should ditch that new synth and the philosophy of adding it behind that. Who is waiting for Yet Another Useless Native Synth?
Wasted resources...
While they are working on yet another invention of the wheel, people are turning away because of lags, other unnecessary problems or missing crucial features.

There are so many other (better) synths out there.
There are not so many cool DAW's like BWS out there.

Priorities...
People buy/upgrade BWS for the DAW not for its instruments.

[quincy]

People buy/upgrade BWS for the DAW not for its instruments.

...is your personal, subjective opinion.

I like native devices and I know plenty of others who like native devices. It gives good value to the product (don't need to buy extras) and it makes projects portable for collaboration. I know producers who almost entirely use native devices (for example, in Ableton Live) for the reason of portability and also for having a great working knowledge of a small, focused set of tools.

It's all good to give feedback to the developers but you don't speak for the rest of us. For every opinion there is an equal and opposite opinion!

Also - the developers are clearly spending time on workflow and DAW features as well. They can do both but it takes time. Who knows what 2.4 will bring.

[_TLG_]

exactly. Its always nice to see how our DAW grow up, how the devs implement new things. PHASE-4 is beautiful (even if kill the CPU )

If Bitwig will reach new users it must follow a different path as other competitors (the semi modular path )

But yes, now it time to fix some things....

let's give them time

[nickallen]

They should ditch that new synth and the philosophy of adding it behind that. Who is waiting for Yet Another Useless Native Synth?
Wasted resources....

Well we're a development team of four developers each with different skill sets and specialized areas. The development of the synth and the framework for accelerating graphics via OpenGL are totally different developer projects that are happening in parallel and developed by different developers. Phase-4 in no way made the OpenGL acceleration take longer.