It’s cool to see a functional tool like the oscilloscope manipulated to display unrelated art. When you input suitable stereo audio into an old scope in in X-Y mode, you can see all kinds of artistic creations. Salvaged Scope Lets You Watch the Music article introduces you how to use old scope for video art. I have posted on that few years back with YouTube videos and circuits to generate that art, bit now I feel it’s time to revisit this theme. Here are some new videos:
Jerobeam Fenderson – Spirals
Jerobeam Fenderson – Shrooms
Jerobeam Fenderson – Planets
Jerobeam Fenderson – Blocks
C. Allen | Attack Vector (Oscilloscope Music)
C. Allen | Globetrotter (Oscilloscope Music)
C. Allen | Downforce (Oscilloscope Music)
Daft Punk – Robot Rock (Oscilloscope Music Remix)
26 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do quake on oscilloscope… Oh wait.
.
https://youtu.be/aMli33ornEU
http://www.lofibucket.com/articles/oscilloscope_quake.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
These Genius Musicians Use Music to Draw Animations on Oscilloscopes
https://www.hackster.io/news/these-genius-musicians-use-music-to-draw-animations-on-oscilloscopes-76d65c9473ce
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Hacking-an-Old-TV-Into-an-Signal-Visualizer/
https://www.hackster.io/news/turn-an-old-analog-tv-into-a-simple-oscilloscope-36e0558b808e?48fbab00052197bc8bd943498b89dd71
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build a Vector Graphics Display Clock with a Cathode-Ray Tube
https://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/build-a-vector-graphics-display-clock-with-a-cathoderay-tube
Tomi Engdahl says:
SCOPETREX IS A GAME CONSOLE… FOR YOUR OSCILLOSCOPE!
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/07/scopetrex-is-a-game-console-for-your-oscilloscope/
Wouldn’t it be useful if the screen you do have on your bench could also play games? [Tube Time] has fixed this problem, with Scopetrex, a vector graphic console for your oscilloscope. In fact, it’s better than just a console, because it’s a clone of the legendary Vectrex, the vector-based console with built-in CRT screen from the 1980s.
Build Your Own Vectrex Vector-Based Video Game Console
SCOPETREX displays graphics on your oscilloscope or any XY monitor
https://www.hackster.io/news/build-your-own-vectrex-vector-based-video-game-console-34a31cad1c4b
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/09/01/antique-oscilloscope-gets-new-home-and-purpose/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jerobeam Fenderson – Reconstruct
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5WBWIKnr0Os&feature=youtu.be
What you see is what you hear: The audio signal is fed directly into the oscilloscope, where vector graphics are drawn with sound.
Filmed from an analog Tektronix 5103N scope.
left audio channel: horizontal deflection
right audio channel: vertical deflection
software used: OsciStudio & blender (circuit diagram, robot scene), SketchyScope (walking scene), Max MSP (bicycle & mountains), Capella (scorewriting), Ableton Live
http://www.electronixandmore.com/projects/simplescope/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/28/oscilloscope-clocks-now-in-color/
Ordinarily, when we hear the words “clock” and “oscilloscope” in the same sentence we conjure images of measuring a stable, repeating square wave that acts as the heartbeat of a system. Of course, that’s not the only meaning– there’s a much more fun and less useful one: using an oscilloscope to display the time.
Misusing oscilloscopes in the name of fun has become a time-honored tradition
https://www.element14.com/community/community/project14/offtheshelf/blog/2021/10/13/multi-colour-oscilloscope-clock
Tomi Engdahl says:
Equal Temperament Versus Just Intonation Visualized
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPLyULgAGQc
Video shows two oscillators on an analog oscilloscope in XY mode.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oscilloscope Music – (Drawing with Sound) – Smarter Every Day 224
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gibcRfp4zA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jerobeam Fenderson – Planets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XziuEdpVUe0
Jerobeam Fenderson – Reconstruct
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WBWIKnr0Os
Tomi Engdahl says:
8:9 Polyrhythm in Oscilloscope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQNrVdTJxGA
We’ll begin again from the simpler ones. Thanks for all the comments. Subscribe to the channel for your weekly dose of weirdness. Fyi, this is made with:
VCV Rack 2 – a free eurorack synth simulator
https://vcvrack.com/Rack
Oscilloscope by Kritzikratzi
https://github.com/kritzikratzi/Oscilloscope/releases
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tektronix Oscilloscope Music
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TOjld0ZcNzs&feature=youtu.be
I recently picked up a vintage Tektronix 603 X-Y monitor. Time to draw nice pictures with sound to showcase it! And when the Tek is paired with music from talented Austria-based artist (not Dutch as I mistakenly say in the video) Jerobeam Fenderson, it becomes truly spectacular.
Music files can be obtained from:
http://oscilloscopemusic.com/
The track played in the video at 8:53 is “Shrooms”.
Here are some videos of Hansi and Jerobeam (Chris) showing some of the behind the scenes “making of”:
This great talk by Hansi about the software development and how he met Chris:
https://youtu.be/iM5BW75CKJQ
This short one showing them working together on some of the tracks:
https://youtu.be/IUNLm6kXMy0
Tomi Engdahl says:
Playing with Cathode Ray Tubes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqUlfMmhJQs
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tektronix-2235/
Most DSOs, show only dots in X-Y mode… And don’t use the full sample rate they’re capable of…
Most analog scopes (I think there were a few exceptions) are limited to a few MHz horizontal bandwidth in XY mode.
True, but what you’re saying is valid only for the X input, the Y input has the full bandwidth as if used in Y-T mode…
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://blog.arduino.cc/2022/10/11/create-vector-video-art-with-an-arduino/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Virtual Oscilloscope
This online virtual oscilloscope allows you to visualise live sound input and get to grips with how to adjust the display
https://academo.org/demos/virtual-oscilloscope/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Quake on an oscilloscope
https://youtu.be/aMli33ornEU
Tomi Engdahl says:
Guitar playing to an oscilloscope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B1ANTPwOEg
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/04/17/bust-out-that-old-analog-scope-for-some-velociraster-fun/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Velociraster! And Other Oscilloscope Nonsense
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEgRV6VHzgg
A demonstration of using a Raspberry Pi Pico and a couple of DACs to drive an old analogue oscilloscope in XY mode.
It can drive the ‘scope as a vector display, so you can make classic vector games. But it can also drive the ‘scope in raster mode, achieving a grey-scale display by carefully adjusting the speed of the beam as it sweeps across each scanline. Hence ‘velociraster’
00:00 Intro
02:11 Boring Technical Details
08:02 Vector Demo
10:32 Space Rocks in Space
11:58 1-Bit Raster Demo
12:59 Velociraster!
https://github.com/OliWright/PicoVectorscope
https://github.com/OliWright/PicoVectorscopeExamples
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analog Lorenz Attractor Computer
An analog computer for solving sets of Lorenz attractor differential equations
https://hackaday.io/project/191142-analog-lorenz-attractor-computer
Tomi Engdahl says:
Op Amp Contest: Generate Spirograph Shapes Using Only Op Amps And Math
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/05/op-amp-contest-generate-spirograph-shapes-using-only-op-amps-and-math/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oscilloscope Music Kickstarter (June 2015)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qnL40CbuodU&fbclid=IwAR2bNLzrXjf23XhINNKEJydpCsayDGDEPQZRb4PQ0OfRq8B1yAw9UJn0JeA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Squarepusher – Wendorlan (Scope Vid)
https://youtu.be/cLOd03UGmH8?si=jwHIZ7tCIDt9joVd
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analogisella Quakea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMli33ornEU