Questions about VM GUI

[rfj]

Why OpenGl support has been supressed?

I think VM GUI should be optimized for better performance. Maybe A flatter look should help. I think that 3D look compromises performance as also does animations etc....

Maybe a flat and homogeneous look will free CPU resources to what really matters here: DSP processing.

I mean: think of a Doepfer eurorack. You see all modules look almost the same in colour and aspect. I suspect that 3D look and so many colours in the VM modules mean more CPU tax to render.

Maybe I'm wrong about this but, what about a redesigned and lighter GUI for VM?

[ColinP]

OpenGL is almost 30 years old and made a lot of sense at one point but has faded from use. I believe it's not received an update for about four years now.

Modern computers have separate processors for graphics (GPUs rather than CPUs) so the job of drawing things on screen doesn't really impact DSP. Also while DSP is calculated at a rate of 48,000 times per second in VM, graphical updates need only occur approximately 20 or 30 times per second because of the way our perception works.

Indeed if anything most VM modules are missing a trick as they could be providing all kinds of useful visual feedback without it having any real impact on CPU usage.

Aesthetics is another matter though. Many people apparently want their synthesizer technology to remind them of how things were 40 years ago when one or two LEDs seemed high-tech (and very exotic if they were any color other than red).

[Steve W]

For reasons I stated previously, I hope Cherry Audio does not adopt mandatory use of OpenGL.

[ColinP]

No need to worry Steve. Since mid February (version 2.5.3) it's no longer even possible to use OpenGL in VM. CA have rightly ditched it.

[cherryaudio Greg]

OpenGL seemed to be more trouble than it was worth.