Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Anukari: macOS Realtime Physics Audio Synthesizer Performance Issues

2025-05-06

Anukari, a GPU-based real-time 3D physics audio synthesizer, performs well on most macOS systems. However, on some high-end Apple Silicon devices, its performance degrades due to macOS's power-saving GPU strategies. The author attempted to solve the problem with a "waste makes haste" strategy (running an extra workload on the GPU to increase its frequency), but this fails on high-end devices due to independent frequency regulation of multiple GPU chips. The author calls on the Apple Metal team to help solve this problem and proposes possible solutions, such as extending the concept of Audio Workgroup to the GPU or adding a real-time sensitive option to the Metal API.

Anukari: A Revolutionary 3D Physics-Based Synthesizer

2025-05-02

Anukari is a software synthesizer and effects processor powered by a fully interactive 3D physics simulation. Design your own 3D instruments or effects by dragging and dropping physics components like masses and springs; see and hear your creations in real time. Supporting MPE and running as a plugin or standalone, Anukari leverages your GPU for powerful audio processing, enabling massive soundscapes and bizarre effects. Currently in Beta with a 50% discount.

MacOS GPU Optimization: Wasting Resources for Speed

2024-12-15

Anukari's developer encountered a bottleneck while optimizing GPU performance on MacOS. Due to limited system control over GPU performance, Apple's GPU performance regulation mechanism performed poorly in Anukari's use case, resulting in audio glitches. The developer implemented a workaround: dedicating a GPU threadgroup warp to useless computation to 'trick' the system into increasing GPU clock speed, significantly reducing audio latency and improving performance. While crude, this method proved effective in resolving MacOS performance issues. However, performance improvements varied significantly between different DAWs (Ableton and GarageBand), requiring further optimization.