Poor graphical performance of the GUI (Fixed!)

[antic604]

My 1st post, so let me start by saying that I really like what I'm seeing so far - the workflow, sound, modules, DAW integration, etc. It's all very exciting!

However, I've stumbled over a problem that takes away a lot of joy using it - the graphical performance when moving around the patch is very choppy on Surface Pro i7 in Bitwig 2.4 and Studio One 4.1, compared to Ableton Live 10. I disabled all the 3D cabling, shadows, animations, etc. but that doesn't change anything. Here's a video (Bitwig vs. Live):

https://youtu.be/yi-nouwZW7k

The reason for this is that Bitwig - and Studio One - recognise VM as supporting high-DPI screens therefore the GUI is very sharp, with 1:1 pixels. Live however doesn't automatically recognise it, therefore it stretches the GUI by itself, which results in 2x2 pixels & is slightly blurry, but much graphical smoother performance. I can also replicate it with VM standalone - when run normally, it's as choppy as in Bitwig, but when I right-click the VM icon and in compatibility options disable high-DPI, then it becomes blurry and runs smoothly. I can also make it choppy in Live, by disabling the per-plugin scaling and increasing VM zoom to 200% - it then looks (and chops) the same as in Bitwig or Studio One.

Now, I don't mind it being blurry if it works fine, so I'd appreciate an option to disable high-DPI support. But also, it's a simple 2D bitmap GUI with very few moving / animated parts, so it should be running much better on my computer that easily handles complex VCV patches or Bitwig itself that can get very busy with all the modulators, etc. I suspect the GPU isn't used for rendering of the GUI, because I see like 5% utilisation when VM is running, so offloading that from CPU might help as well? Alternatively, maybe finetuning engine priorities would help, as I imagine audio has the biggest (realtime?) priority and graphics is far behind, so maybe bring them closer together?

Anyway, love the VM so far, created few first patches and already looking at possible further purchases; but I'd really like to see something done with graphical performance

Pretty please

[Cherry Dan]

My 1st post, so let me start by saying that I really like what I'm seeing so far - the workflow, sound, modules, DAW integration, etc. It's all very exciting!

However, I've stumbled over a problem that takes away a lot of joy using it - the graphical performance when moving around the patch is very choppy on Surface Pro i7 in Bitwig 2.4 and Studio One 4.1, compared to Ableton Live 10.

Hi Antic,

You're right. This seems to be related to your hi-density display on your Surface Pro, as Voltage Modular scrolls very fast with a standard display. We're looking into it and hope to make major improvements to the scrolling speed with high-density. I'll keep you informed!

Thanks for the positive feedback, we really appreciate it!

Dan

[antic604]

We're looking into it and hope to make major improvements to the scrolling speed with high-density. I'll keep you informed!

Looking forward to it! Out of all the software modular environments I have - VM, VCV, Reaktor 6 - or have tried - Softube Modular - VM is the one that really speaks to me and gets me creative. In the meantime I'll use it in Live or standalone where I can "force" it to work smoothly.

[antic604]

After 1.0.5 update I can see noticeable improvement. It's still not as fluid as in Live in low resolution, but it's definitely better - like 20-25fps instead of 10-15fps. Thanks so much!!! <3

Hopefuly this can be improved further

[antic604]

BTW, I really think something is off with high-DPI support here.

Usually, most plugins don't have ANY options for scaling the GUI and DAWs handle them on high-DPI screen by simply stretching the GUI with the scaling factor that's set in Windows itself (so 175% in my case). But VM has 3 options:
- the magnifying glass, that impacts the size of rack elements,
- the pixel density setting in options, that impacts the size of everything - modules, browser, menu,
- a handle in bottom-felt, that resizes the VM window but doesn't impact the size of any of the elements,

What's strange, my Surface Pro 4 which has a PPI of 267 (which is THE definition of high: 2736x1824 at 12'') isn't recognised as having high pixel density but the plugin's size seems correct. When I switch that manually, all the elements get 4x the size and while I can bring the modules back to usable dimensions by adjusting zoom to 50%, I can't do that for browser, top menu bar or options pop-up window - they remain huge.

I THINK that - having all those options - VM should appear to the host DAW as high-DPI aware (I think there's a flag for that in the code) and then the user could set it up how they like, using the combination of above mentioned scaling options.

If you're interested, I'd be up for testing this.

[Captain]

What's strange, my Surface Pro 4 which has a PPI of 267 (which is THE definition of high: 2736x1824 at 12'') isn't recognised as having high pixel density but the plugin's size seems correct. When I switch that manually, all the elements get 4x the size and while I can bring the modules back to usable dimensions by adjusting zoom to 50%, I can't do that for browser, top menu bar or options pop-up window - they remain huge.

I THINK that - having all those options - VM should appear to the host DAW as high-DPI aware (I think there's a flag for that in the code) and then the user could set it up how they like, using the combination of above mentioned scaling options.

Yes, I was also wondering about this. I'm on a Mac, and I have an LG Ultrafine 5K display (about 218 PPI, which is generally considered to be HDPI). VM has the standard pixel density option checked, and everything looks good to me (maybe adjust a little with the magnifying glass, but 100% seems to be in the ballpark). But if I enable the high pixel density option, everything becomes huuuuuge, like clearly too big. I also don't recall seeing any dedicated pixel density options in most other programs.

[Cherry Garcia]

There was a glitch introduced in 1.0.5...but we realize that there are other issues that we'd like to fix, in regards to HD monitors. 1.0.6 should be better, but stay tuned. Thanks!

[antic604]

There was a glitch introduced in 1.0.5...but we realize that there are other issues that we'd like to fix, in regards to HD monitors. 1.0.6 should be better, but stay tuned. Thanks!

I hear 1.0.7 is out. Can I expect the problems are fixed there (at work now for the next 8+ hours...)

[Cherry Garcia]

Antic,

It is back to 1.0.3 performance levels - and maybe a tad better. We still have work to do with scaled interfaces / hi rez monitors, though. In Windows 10 and other flavors, there is a way to change the scaling. On the Surface Pro, I noticed it is set to 225% or 2.25 x. If it was 200%, Voltage Modular will work much more fluidly. To adjust this scaling, right click on the desktop and choose "Display Settings". On Windows 10, at least, there is an option called "Advanced Scaling Options". Click that and you'll see the custom scaling. Set it to 200% for better performance in Voltage Modular. This is going to make the icons and desktop just a tad smaller. We are still working on making this faster, but in the meantime, this is a nice option.

advanced-scaling-windows.jpg (222.94 KiB) Viewed 7302 times

[antic604]

On the Surface Pro, I noticed it is set to 225% or 2.25 x. If it was 200%, Voltage Modular will work much more fluidly.

Thanks. I'm usually running at 175% scaling but I've checked that agains 200% and there's no major difference. It works all right, but not fluid still. I'd really prefer if there was an option to disable high-DPI support so that it is blurry/pixelated, but runs smooth like I can get it in Ableton Live.

But anyway, it's manageable in Bitwig now, so thanks! Looking forward to further improvements.