
Oscilloscope Music - dmmalam
https://oscilloscopemusic.com/watch.php
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jimpudar
This is pretty cool. If you couldn't tell, he is using a dual trace
oscilloscope in X-Y Mode [1]. The left audio channel is driving the horizontal
deflection. You can usually pick up one of these old analog scopes for under
100 bucks if you look around!

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscilloscope#X-Y_mode](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscilloscope#X-Y_mode)

~~~
lozf
There's also this HTML5 XY 'scope that crops up here from time to time:

[https://github.com/Sean-Bradley/Oscilloscope](https://github.com/Sean-
Bradley/Oscilloscope)

Edite: corrected link

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adrianmonk
This gets even neater if you take a moment to ponder the theory / math behind
how it actually works.

The same signal is driving the video as is driving the audio. Since the
oscilloscope is in X-Y mode, the horizontal position is the voltage for the
left audio channel and the vertical position is the voltage for the right
channel.

So if you drew a fixed dot somewhere on the screen, you'd get DC in both audio
channels, which doesn't produce an audible tone. If you want a sound, you must
move the dot. But of course that will affect the picture too. The two are not
independent.

So what the guy has done is created a single signal that is carefully crafted
to both look and sound good. (It's kind of like those clever programs that
compile in two languages.)

Once you appreciate that, it sounds nearly impossible, but I believe there are
some tricks involved that make it more tractable. You've still got the time
dimension to play with, so that gives you some freedom. Due to persistence of
vision (and phosphorous on the CRT), you can, for example, move the dot
between two positions quickly, and the eye can't tell how quickly so you can
vary the frequency of a sound without changing the picture. I'm sure there's a
lot more to it than that, but that's just one trick that it seems like he must
be using.

~~~
grkvlt
also, frequency would be unaffected by DC bias, I assume. I guess FFTs will
also be useful...

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sgt
This is very sophisticated modern art. It's worth taking a moment to view and
listen to his videos on YouTube:
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFgoUhNvMLrr8izq38HX6...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFgoUhNvMLrr8izq38HX6rjFR-
nkfklxw)

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peapicker
I love this guy's stuff. I have his Max plugin for MaxForLive in Ableton and
it is a blast to play with.

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jpindar
Be sure to use headphones to fully experience this.

