Magic Music Visuals

I have been using MMV for a bit more than year now on a 2022 Macbook Pro: 13-inch, M2, 16GB ram. I started on v2.3, and have updated alongside all the new releases, I am now making projects on v3 after buying the update yesterday. A big thing that sold me on the update from v2 to v3 was "Updated and improved general graphics performance."

Nothing makes my laptop's fan run like MMV. Sometimes, I catch myself having a ton of browser tabs, spotify, large ableton set, and final cut pro open, and some things will stutter, but my laptop will not heat up in the scenario. MMV's load on my computer (with zero other applications running) exceeds any game or combination of apps that I use to the point that I can't even rest my laptop on my lap because of the heat.

I was wondering if there are any MMV/Macbook settings or any other tips that can help MMV run more smoothly and efficiently on my laptop. My technical knowledge regarding visual graphics and how computers simulate stuff is very limited, so any little tip would be super appreciated. Thank you!

It's true, Magic is an intensive app, but that's the way it is. Under the hood, it's not that different from a game engine, so unless you have some graphics-heavy video games (like first person shooters) on your computer, you may not have another app like it. It tries to run at a constant 60 frames per second, and it's also doing all kinds of audio stuff.

Unfortunately, the reality is that this kind of app tends to run more efficiently on PCs, even compared to Apple's latest Macs.

Thank you for the response. I guess I never thought of it like a game. Is there something I could do internally or externally to my mac to make its graphic computing better?

Maybe it’s simpler than that. If the only issue is the heat, could you get a cooling pad to put under it?

I don't mind the actual heat. I see the heat as a warning sign that my computer is working too hard and is actively degrading by working in the software, but maybe I am overreacting.