Choppy Graphics on Macos - M5 Pro

[EmrahAlpat]

Latest OS build Tahoe 26.4.1
48 GB RAM - 18 Core M5 Pro Macbook.
Lots of plugins have the choppy graphics issue even when the CPU is barely above 20%
They still process the audio but the graphics are very low framerate. Doesnt seem to affect fabfilter for some reason. VST3 versions for all plugins.
Disabling HW acceleration hasn't helped.
Any suggestions?

 

[EmrahAlpat]

Forgot to mention that I'm on the latest build of Studio Pro 8
Installed version: 8.0.3.111164
Also forgot to mention - changing buffer size or restarting S1 doesnt make any difference.
Plugins that have choppy graphics (from the active project I currently have open):
Nugen Master check
God Particle
Soothe2
Apulsoft SplitS
SSL Buss comp
Kazrog Kclip
Slate Metatune
Unisum
Shaperbox 3
Superior Drummer3
EZ Keys2
Omnisphere

Plugins that appear to be working normally
Fabfilter plugins
DMG plugins.
UADx plugins.

 

[js1]

I am running a number of plugins in your choppy list without issues. I'm running on an M4 and almost exclusively with VST3 versions, and initially had issues with some plugins (especially Waves) being sluggish. Aside from making sure that they are all up to date, I would get rid of any plugins that are not Apple Native. Once I did that, everything ran much smoother. I can't give you a good explanation, but getting rid of my Intel running under Rosetta plugins smoothed the behavior of the others.

To find out which plugins are Intel only, grab the PlugInfo app from the App Store (it's $3).

Note that your issue isn't restricted to Studio One. You'll find people with the same issue on Cubase and Reaper. One suggestion is to use only AU plugins on Mac, but that doesn't work for me. I like to move projects to my PC, and my Softube Console One doesn't like AU.

 

[EmrahAlpat]

I am running a number of plugins in your choppy list without issues. I'm running on an M4 and almost exclusively with VST3 versions, and initially had issues with some plugins (especially Waves) being sluggish. Aside from making sure that they are all up to date, I would get rid of any plugins that are not Apple Native. Once I did that, everything ran much smoother. I can't give you a good explanation, but getting rid of my Intel running under Rosetta plugins smoothed the behavior of the others.

To find out which plugins are Intel only, grab the PlugInfo app from the App Store (it's $3).

Note that your issue isn't restricted to Studio One. You'll find people with the same issue on Cubase and Reaper. One suggestion is to use only AU plugins on Mac, but that doesn't work for me. I like to move projects to my PC, and my Softube Console One doesn't like AU.

Thanks - what exactly do you mean by non-apple native plugins? I got the plugininfo app and like 99% say 'Apple, Intel 64' next to them.

 

[js1]

Intel are non-native. They were built to run on the pre Apple Silicon Macs. To run on the M1-M5 machines, they require Rosetta, which is a translation layer that converts the Intel instructions to Apple Silicon instructions. Rosetta works surprisingly well, but performance suffers.

The 99% that say "Apple, Intel 64" means they have code for both the older Macs and the M series. Those are fine.

The ones that you need to worry about only say "Intel 64". Those are the potential troublesome ones.

 

[EmrahAlpat]

Well then its not that as the only ones that have Intel only are VST2 plugins which are disabled anyway. I use the vst3 versions of those.

 

[Mallet]

Latest OS build Tahoe 26.4.1
48 GB RAM - 18 Core M5 Pro Macbook.
Lots of plugins have the choppy graphics issue even when the CPU is barely above 20%
They still process the audio but the graphics are very low framerate. Doesnt seem to affect fabfilter for some reason. VST3 versions for all plugins.
Disabling HW acceleration hasn't helped.
Any suggestions?

Finally I found someone with the same issue.. I got the 24GB RAM - 15 Core M5 Pro MacBook.
I already posted my problem to the reddit community so i will post the important content here again:

Some of my plugins that use hardware acceleration cause every plugin window to stutter/lag when dragging it somewhere else on the screen. I tested it with 8.0.0 and the newest version of Studio Pro (8.0.3) on MacOS Tahoe (26.4.1) and the issue stays the same. It happens with these exact plugins that are all up to date (VST3 and AU): 

all Izotope (e.g. Ozone, vinyl, vocalsynth), TDR Filters + Prism, Supertone Clear and Knock Clipper

Modern plugins that do work: All Fabfilter (e.g. ProQ4), Sonible (when turning of openGL), Baby Audio

As I can only find some articles (e.g. from UJAM) on this issue, I wanted to ask if anyone with a similar ARM Mac could test that behaviour with one of the mentioned plugins. My guess is that they use openGL and not Metal because when I deactivate openGL on sonbile plugins, they behave perfectly normal.
I tried turning off the Hardware Acceleration of Studio Pro in the settings but the mentioned plugins still stutter..

Did you find a fix yet? It seems like it's a problem with Studio Pro because Cubase and Reaper don't struggle with these plugins.. Maybe even a problem with M5 Pro in Studio Pro?

 

[EmrahAlpat]

Hi - nope the same.
I did open a support ticket with Presonus but they wanted me to remove spectralayers that was apparently causing crashes - but then again it doesnt crash with cubase.
I did have claude code review the crash reports :

• The heaviest stack is entirely in cclgui's drawing/layout code. It shows a deeply recursive drawRect cycle: cclgui + 3633992 appears repeatedly in a call chain up to 9+ levels deep. This is cclgui recursively laying out and painting nested views during a CoreAnimation transaction commit.
• A secondary contributor is DMG Audio Limitless (VST3), running on a CVDisplayLink thread (frame-synced OpenGL drawing via glDisableClientState). This is legacy OpenGL rendering from the plugin's UI.
  

 

[Mallet]

Thats unfortunate.. Sorry for you! I got the Mac to finally be free from issues haha..
I just opened a support ticket too and even attached a video. I will update when they answer but based on your response I don't have much hope.. The weird thing is, that it happens in Studio One 7.2.3 as well so it's not even only the newest version..

Oh and thanks for the crash reports! I will have to see if mine also cause crashing or if it's just sluggish UI!

Video of the problem: https://streamable.com/4vy7j0
If you could tell me if it also looks kinda similar to your problem, i would highly appreciate it!


Thank you for the quick response tho!

 

[Vocalpoint]

Also - tons of conversations both here and everywhere else strongly suggestiing that Mac users stay far away from any AU plugins in Studio One/Studio Pro.

That format is not tested with any vendor rigor (IN S1/SP8) since it is designed for the Logic crowd.

VST3 is the way. The only way.

VP