Magic performance related to display attached??

[SoundRehabAustria]

We did a few test runs last night and had some interesting observations ...

During pre-production we used a PC + monitor (main display) + beamer (2nd display) and all worked fine ... last night we used the beamer only (no monitor) and noticed that Magic takes significantly longer (i.e. several seconds) to load (the application itself, no Magic project file loaded yet) ... also seemed scene preparation when loading Magic project files slower (hence, videos got out of sync because they could not be "loaded" fast enough) ... but same PC just no monitor ... I was always under the impression that it all depends solely on the graphic card? anything I can do about that?? anything I need to be aware if I get a smaller, cheap monitor for stage use ???

I think I will have to have a monitor as main display attached otherwise the beamer will show all the file loading / scene preparation before it jumps into full screen display mode ... anything I can do to keep the display from updating while Magic does its initial file loading number crunching ... something like going into CTRL+F mode right away and not seeing the progress indicators? FYI, we use one Magic file per song which is started by MIDI triggered batch file ... hence, all this fuss ...

oh, BTW: this piece of software rocks - features and stability are extremely impressive - you got one very happy camper here

[Magic]

Thanks

The only kind of display that would affect the graphics and video performance of Magic is a "high frame rate" display (120Hz, 144Hz, etc.), such as a gaming monitor -- for example, https://www.asus.com/us/Monitors/VG248QE/. With a 144Hz monitor, graphics and video would run at 144fps by default, instead of 60. The advantage is that Magic would be more responsive to audio input, but the disadvantage is that it would require more GPU power. Usually though, even a 144Hz monitor can be forced to run at 60Hz if you need it to.

I doubt that's your issue though. Another thing to keep in mind is that Magic really isn't optimized for real-time startup and shutdown during a performance. For example, initializing the audio/MIDI devices can sometimes take a second or two, depending on what the operating system is doing. There's no way around it unfortunately. Also, if Magic detects you are online during startup, it will do a few quick internet checks. You might want to try making sure you are not connected to any wi-fi networks.

I can't think of anything else right now, but if I do, I'll post again.

I highly recommend you use a separate monitor as the main display, if you can. I would *never* recommend you use the projector as the main display. Hopefully nothing will go wrong during your performance, but if there is some kind of problem, you don't want everyone seeing that you are restarting applications or, in the absolute worst case, rebooting the computer. I've never heard of any problems like this with Magic, but it does help to be prepared.

If you want to always start Magic in fullscreen mode, you can use Window > Magic Window Options > Start In Fullscreen. When it's enabled, you can also select which fullscreen display to use.

[SoundRehabAustria]

Thanks for the quick reply.

The only kind of display that would affect the graphics and video performance of Magic is a "high frame rate" display (120Hz, 144Hz, etc.), such as a gaming monitor -- for example, https://www.asus.com/us/Monitors/VG248QE/. With a 144Hz monitor, graphics and video would run at 144fps by default, instead of 60. The advantage is that Magic would be more responsive to audio input, but the disadvantage is that it would require more GPU power. Usually though, even a 144Hz monitor can be forced to run at 60Hz if you need it to.

The monitor in use during pre-production was a regular 60Hz, so the first thing we'll try is swapping it to a smaller more transportable one and hopefully get the same performance as before.

I doubt that's your issue though. Another thing to keep in mind is that Magic really isn't optimized for real-time startup and shutdown during a performance. For example, initializing the audio/MIDI devices can sometimes take a second or two, depending on what the operating system is doing. There's no way around it unfortunately. Also, if Magic detects you are online during startup, it will do a few quick internet checks. You might want to try making sure you are not connected to any wi-fi networks.

I realize we are doing something barely legal here but Magic works really well in that mode. Well, I actually start Magic only once and then feed it new file open instructions by "starting it again" via cmd line batch command, but it just loads the new file and never has to exit/restart so it works like charm ...

I can't think of anything else right now, but if I do, I'll post again.

Thanks. I appreciate

I highly recommend you use a separate monitor as the main display, if you can. I would *never* recommend you use the projector as the main display. Hopefully nothing will go wrong during your performance, but if there is some kind of problem, you don't want everyone seeing that you are restarting applications or, in the absolute worst case, rebooting the computer. I've never heard of any problems like this with Magic, but it does help to be prepared.

If you want to always start Magic in fullscreen mode, you can use Window > Magic Window Options > Start In Fullscreen. When it's enabled, you can also select which fullscreen display to use.

OK. Convinced ... just 1 more box to fit in the car I was being naive thinking I could get away with autostart, batch files and just a projector ...

[Magic]

Well, I actually start Magic only once and then feed it new file open instructions by "starting it again" via cmd line batch command, but it just loads the new file and never has to exit/restart so it works like charm ...

Ah, that makes sense. You won't have to worry about the startup/shutdown things I mentioned above then.

The only other thing I can think of is that, when you turn off your computer, all caches are emptied. There are several caches in your computer (operating system, CPU, etc.); probably the most relevant ones are your disk and page caches (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_cache). They retain the most recent things you were working on. Loading things (applications, projects, assets, anything!) will *always* go faster if they have been loaded recently -- but only since the last time the operating system was started.

So, one thing you can do after you set up your computer at your show is to load *all* your projects into Magic, as you would during your performance. In other words, do a full test-run. It doesn't have to last as long as your entire performance; just a few minutes to make sure everything has been loaded at least once. Then *don't* turn the computer off, or even put it into sleep. This way, everything will be cached and ready for you.

Caching doesn't have anything to do with Magic specifically; it's just the way computers and operating systems work these days.

[SoundRehabAustria]

Great tip thanks a lot !!!

[SoundRehabAustria]

The only other thing I can think of is that, when you turn off your computer, all caches are emptied. There are several caches in your computer (operating system, CPU, etc.); probably the most relevant ones are your disk and page caches (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_cache). They retain the most recent things you were working on. Loading things (applications, projects, assets, anything!) will *always* go faster if they have been loaded recently -- but only since the last time the operating system was started.

So, one thing you can do after you set up your computer at your show is to load *all* your projects into Magic, as you would during your performance. In other words, do a full test-run. It doesn't have to last as long as your entire performance; just a few minutes to make sure everything has been loaded at least once. Then *don't* turn the computer off, or even put it into sleep. This way, everything will be cached and ready for you.

Caching doesn't have anything to do with Magic specifically; it's just the way computers and operating systems work these days.

Been thinking about this ... and it makes a lot of sense and totally explains why synchronised video start worked better in the 2nd trial run than in the 1st one. First time around magic file load/scene setup just was quick enough in some projects, but a little to slow for others (so that e.g. videos showing drummer were somewhat off beat) - when played a second time synced video playback was back on the beat