Using Soundcard Oscilloscope to Visualize Musical Sounds

An oscilloscope is a tool for viewing audio waveform signals, how sound pressure waves vary in time. A spectrum analyzer is a tool for viewing the frequency content of a sound. Both of these tools are great for helping musicians gain a deeper understanding of the sounds they produce, while the use of music can help technologists gain a deeper understanding of their tools. In these videos, Jay Brockman of the University of Notre Dame shows how to use Soundcard Oscilloscope to visualize musical sounds.

Soundcard Oscilloscope is a really great shareware oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer program for Windows by Christian Zeitnitz of Germany. Here's a link to the download page and user's manual.

This Instructable was developed as part of the WAVES project, which is exploring common ground between technology and music.

• WAVES Instructable