Call it stimulated synesthesia: there’s something really satisfying when your brain sees and hears a connection between image and sound. And add some extra magic when the image is on an oscilloscope. A new video series on YouTube shows you how to make this effect yourself.
Jerobeam Fenderson has begun a series on so-called “oscilloscope music.” The oscilloscope isn’t making the sounds – that’s opposite to how an oscilloscope works, as a signal visualization device. But by designing some nice reactive eye candy for the oscilloscope, then connecting some appropriate, edgy minimal music signal, you get, well – this:
Oooh, my, that’s tasty. Like biting into a big, juicy ripe [vegetarian version] tomato [meat-lovers version] raw steak.
So in the tutorial series, Fenderson clues us in to how he makes all this happen. And this could be an economical thing to play around with, as you’ll often find vintage oscilloscopes around a studio or on sale used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7J-WrS9ou0
Don’t miss the description on YouTube – there are tons of resources in there; it’s practically a complete bibliography on the topic in itself.
Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piZPIMYfq0c
Plus, accompanying this series is an additional video and Max for Live patch demonstrating aliasing and sample rate, covered today on the CDM Newswire / Gear (our new home for breaking short-form news):
This Max for Live patch demonstrates critical digital audio concepts
More:
http://oscilloscopemusic.com/