Slight lag in OSX

[theseus75]

I'm suing 1.3.2 Beta on both the PC and Mac Edit: user is on OS X 10.6.4 - working on the same project in either platform (depending on where I am).

However, I've noticed a millisecond of lag when moving the mouse around in the OSX version, which doesn't seem a pain at first, but then - after experiencing no lag in the PC version - becomes really apparent and distracting.

For example, it's apparent when selecting a range when editing or the like, as if the cursor is just slightly behind the mouse movement, and all actions taking place just a split-second later than commanded.

It's certainly possible this is b/c of my rig; perhaps I have too much running, etc, but I kind of doubt it. I have an iMac with Intel Core Duo, and plenty of RAM. I usually close most other apps as well. Too, on the PC side, I exp no lag at all and I'm not working on a very good rig (just a run-of-the-mill laptop).

Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas on how to remedy it?

Thanks!

[Gale Andrews]

I'm using 1.3.2 Beta on both the PC and Mac, working on the same project in either platform (depending on where I am).

You mean 1.3.12 I assume which is the current Beta?

I've noticed a millisecond of lag when moving the mouse around in the OSX version, which doesn't seem a pain at first, but then - after experiencing no lag in the PC version - becomes really apparent and distracting.

For example, it's apparent when selecting a range when editing or the like, as if the cursor is just slightly behind the mouse movement, and all actions taking place just a split-second later than commanded.

I'm not on a Mac, but have you seen this in other programs, say selecting in GarageBand or selecting text in Safari? Do you use the same mouse for Mac and PC or are you using a touchpad on the Windows laptop?

Gale

[theseus75]

Sorry it's taken me forever to repost on this, but I finally got around to doing a quick-and-dirty screencast illustrating this problem. Perhaps it's something that should be upchanneled as a bug; I don't know. I just know that it slows down my editing, and with as long as I spent editing, I'm certainly interested in figuring it out.

Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMtSSF5y8rA

[theseus75]

Oops - I should also mention that I tried a corded mouse, and that wasn't the issue, though it seemed pretty logical. Too, the samples in the video were taken with the same machine (iMac): one on Snow Leopard and the other in emulation. And when editing elsewhere on the PC, I get the same results as when running XP in emulation (which makes sense).

Thanks!

[kozikowski]

That's very significant screen draw delay, and yes, that would drive me nuts, too.

No, it's not a "bug" until 500 of your closest friends complain about the same thing. You just have a messy machine. I need to drop out and do Saturday things for an hour or so...

Koz

[Gale Andrews]

Oops - I should also mention that I tried a corded mouse, and that wasn't the issue, though it seemed pretty logical. Too, the samples in the video were taken with the same machine (iMac): one on Snow Leopard and the other in emulation. And when editing elsewhere on the PC, I get the same results as when running XP in emulation (which makes sense).

You can also click in the waveform , hold down SHIFT and then use right arrow to drag. Hold down COMMAND and use left arrow if you want to bring the right edge of the selection back a bit.

I wouldn't need 500 people complaining to track it as a bug, more like half a dozen. Please confirm the same problem happens in 1.3.12. You said you were using "1.3.2" at first and your video says you are using 1.3.10. Have you made any changes to screen refresh rates?


Gale

[billw58]

I can confirm this on a Mac Dual 2 GHz PPC OS X 10.5.8 with Audacity 1.3.12 and 1.3.13-Aug21. Maybe not quite as bad a demonstrated in the video, but still a lag. I can also confirm that the behaviour seems identical going back to 1.3.8 (that's as far back as I can go without downloading an earlier version), and exists in 1.2.6. This definitely appears to be a Mac thing.

I had never noticed it before, having nothing to compare it to.

Have you made any changes to screen refresh rates?

How would I do that?

-- Bill

[billw58]

I get the same results as when running XP in emulation

Do you mean, for example, dragging selections in a word processor?

-- Bill

[theseus75]

I get the same results as when running XP in emulation

@Bill - I should have been clearer: When I run XP on the Mac using VMWare, Audacity on the Windows side does not suffer from the lag I see on the OSX side. I suppose this is a solution or alternative of sorts, though not preferable. I also installed 1.3.12 Beta Unicode, and have the same results.

@Gale - I'd be willing to monkey with frame rates, but don't know how to do that in OSX off-hand. A quick Google search didn't help, but I'll poke around and see if there's a way to tweak it. Also, just tried the same sort of tests as in the screencast on GarageBand 2008 and 2009, and no lag.

Thanks.

[kozikowski]

"Exotic Users" cause oddball problems . I bet there isn't another person on earth that has the same configuration you do.

Do you have an external FireWire Hard Drive you're not using right at the present? Physically mount it, boot the machine to the OS-X install CDs and put OS-X on the external drive. You don't need more than about 6GB -- maybe not even that. Mine is 6GB after I got done putting personal stuff on it.

When you're done, boot to that new drive. Hold the Option key when you boot. Now download and install Audacity 1.3.12 from here...

http://audacityteam.org/download/beta_mac

I bet it works exactly correctly, high speed and all.

Your next task is to figure out what happened in the second install that's missing from the first.

If both fail, then you have hardware problems. Have you ever run a memory checker? It's something of an adventure on a large Mac.

Koz