Understanding Graphics Acceleration?...

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plaamook
Posts: 2593
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01 Dec 2021

Can someone help me get my head around this?
I’m on a 2012 MBP bla bla.
I had some issues w the release of fab’s Volcano 3 and they suggested I switch of graphics acceleration, which I did.

Before I did this I loaded up a songs w multiple instances of every fab plug I’ve got and checked the stats on activity monitor. Then switched it off and the stats are running the same. Song file running the same.

So, is it that the bog standard GPU in my Mac wasn’t doing anything much to begin with or is there some other clever gubbins going on that I’m not aware of. Because if all GPU acceleration does for me is throw a wrench in my machine, why not switch it off on everything, Reason included?

And then if I were to upgrade my Mac (once I hit the friggin lottery...), which should come w a more beefy GPU, would I then see a big difference?

My understanding was that graphics acceleration for this level of graphics would not be particularly heavy for most standard GPUs. But then my comp is getting on a bit. So I don’t know.

Thanks.
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rootwheel
Posts: 290
Joined: 21 Aug 2021

02 Dec 2021

plaamook wrote:
01 Dec 2021
Can someone help me get my head around this?
I’m on a 2012 MBP bla bla.
I had some issues w the release of fab’s Volcano 3 and they suggested I switch of graphics acceleration, which I did.

Before I did this I loaded up a songs w multiple instances of every fab plug I’ve got and checked the stats on activity monitor. Then switched it off and the stats are running the same. Song file running the same.

So, is it that the bog standard GPU in my Mac wasn’t doing anything much to begin with or is there some other clever gubbins going on that I’m not aware of. Because if all GPU acceleration does for me is throw a wrench in my machine, why not switch it off on everything, Reason included?

And then if I were to upgrade my Mac (once I hit the friggin lottery...), which should come w a more beefy GPU, would I then see a big difference?

My understanding was that graphics acceleration for this level of graphics would not be particularly heavy for most standard GPUs. But then my comp is getting on a bit. So I don’t know.

Thanks.
What steps did they tell you to follow to 'switch off' graphic acceleration on your Mac for their plugins?

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plaamook
Posts: 2593
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02 Dec 2021

Terminal command.
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plaamook
Posts: 2593
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02 Dec 2021

defaults write com.fabfilter.Common GraphicsAcceleration -int 0

To be specific
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rootwheel
Posts: 290
Joined: 21 Aug 2021

02 Dec 2021

plaamook wrote:
02 Dec 2021
defaults write com.fabfilter.Common GraphicsAcceleration -int 0

To be specific
Ah OK, it's an internal command for their plugins only. Not sure what it really does, it could just be something for using a more rudimentary method for scaling the graphics or it could stop their plugins using OpenGL altogether.

Either way it sounds like there's something in your setup causing a bug in their software and that they couldn't get to the bottom of so it, so it made most sense to get your machine to use the 'safe-mode' for rendering of their plugins' graphics as a workaround.

I wouldn't worry about it; just be glad a fix exists from FabFilter and that it doesn't cause any impact on performance! :)

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plaamook
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02 Dec 2021

rootwheel wrote:
02 Dec 2021
plaamook wrote:
02 Dec 2021
defaults write com.fabfilter.Common GraphicsAcceleration -int 0

To be specific
Ah OK, it's an internal command for their plugins only. Not sure what it really does, it could just be something for using a more rudimentary method for scaling the graphics or it could stop their plugins using OpenGL altogether.

Either way it sounds like there's something in your setup causing a bug in their software and that they couldn't get to the bottom of so it, so it made most sense to get your machine to use the 'safe-mode' for rendering of their plugins' graphics as a workaround.

I wouldn't worry about it; just be glad a fix exists from FabFilter and that it doesn't cause any impact on performance! :)
Ok cheers dude.
I’m only really computer savvy on the user end of things.
Once I’m in terminal I’m flying blind.
Perpetual Reason 12 Beta Tester :reason:

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Re8et
Competition Winner
Posts: 1512
Joined: 14 Nov 2016

02 Dec 2021

I'm hooked.
Please get on with this.

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plaamook
Posts: 2593
Joined: 22 Jan 2015
Location: Bajo del mar...

03 Dec 2021

Does anyone know how to switch it off in or with Reason?
I’m now wondering how many bugs it might iron out. And it’s not like R12 actually solved any of the previous graphics problems.

Thanks.
Perpetual Reason 12 Beta Tester :reason:

You can check out my music here.
https://m.soundcloud.com/ericholmofficial
Or here.
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rootwheel
Posts: 290
Joined: 21 Aug 2021

03 Dec 2021

plaamook wrote:
03 Dec 2021
Does anyone know how to switch it off in or with Reason?
I’m now wondering how many bugs it might iron out. And it’s not like R12 actually solved any of the previous graphics problems.

Thanks.
AFAIK it can't be toggled in Reason 12. The older versions of Reason used the CPU to power the graphics without any acceleration from the GPU, which if you had a decent enough CPU didn't really cause too many problems. Reason 12 uses graphics acceleration for rendering but there hasn't been any indication this is optional or user configurable in any way. It is also unclear if the new graphic acceleration is the direct cause of the many performance issues people are reporting or if it's also because R12 brings many other changes (including the 'smart browser') that are slowing everything down. One potential cause of the performance issues is the new high resolution graphics assets which perhaps aren't being handled, processed and cached in an optimal fashion - causing too much disk and CPU overhead to the system all the time.

My advice would be to use an older version of Reason until 12 gets a bit more stable and/or perhaps upgrade your machine in the future if it turns out that the only way to run Reason 12 smoothly is to throw more computer resources at it.

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plaamook
Posts: 2593
Joined: 22 Jan 2015
Location: Bajo del mar...

03 Dec 2021

rootwheel wrote:
03 Dec 2021
plaamook wrote:
03 Dec 2021
Does anyone know how to switch it off in or with Reason?
I’m now wondering how many bugs it might iron out. And it’s not like R12 actually solved any of the previous graphics problems.

Thanks.
AFAIK it can't be toggled in Reason 12. The older versions of Reason used the CPU to power the graphics without any acceleration from the GPU, which if you had a decent enough CPU didn't really cause too many problems. Reason 12 uses graphics acceleration for rendering but there hasn't been any indication this is optional or user configurable in any way. It is also unclear if the new graphic acceleration is the direct cause of the many performance issues people are reporting or if it's also because R12 brings many other changes (including the 'smart browser') that are slowing everything down. One potential cause of the performance issues is the new high resolution graphics assets which perhaps aren't being handled, processed and cached in an optimal fashion - causing too much disk and CPU overhead to the system all the time.

My advice would be to use an older version of Reason until 12 gets a bit more stable and/or perhaps upgrade your machine in the future if it turns out that the only way to run Reason 12 smoothly is to throw more computer resources at it.
Thanks
I’m ok on 12. It’s no worse than 11 in terms of stuttering graphics on my Mac.
It’s more all the other shit that I’m wondering about.
I can crash mimic for forks sake. The new flagship sampler. What’s that. It’s not even listed as fix on the new beta version.
It’s not obviously related. But then a fab crash seems to have been sorted w disabled acceleration so I thought maybe reason could be cleaned up in such a way.
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Billy+
Posts: 4157
Joined: 09 Dec 2016

03 Dec 2021

plaamook wrote:
03 Dec 2021
Does anyone know how to switch it off in or with Reason?
I’m now wondering how many bugs it might iron out. And it’s not like R12 actually solved any of the previous graphics problems.

Thanks.
You could try the read command and use tab possibly to see if it auto completes

Defaults read com.reas[tab] .Common Gra[tab]

I would then assume that the choice would be -int 0 or 1 using the write option rather than read ;)

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plaamook
Posts: 2593
Joined: 22 Jan 2015
Location: Bajo del mar...

03 Dec 2021

Yeah. I thought I’d try that. Just wanted some confirmation from the more knowledgable sorts round here first.
Perpetual Reason 12 Beta Tester :reason:

You can check out my music here.
https://m.soundcloud.com/ericholmofficial
Or here.
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Billy+
Posts: 4157
Joined: 09 Dec 2016

03 Dec 2021

plaamook wrote:
03 Dec 2021
Yeah. I thought I’d try that. Just wanted some confirmation from the more knowledgable sorts round here first.
Well so long as you make notes about what you've done it should be a simple matter of putting it back the way it was to undo anything that doesn't work.

Always do a read before a write that way you're going to have the default value.

I also wonder if the same method could be used to turn off the auto reporting spyware option.
I believe that there should be a method to list the options try

man Defaults

To read the command manual.

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