Korg Forums

[themusicman2001]

Are there any free software oscilloscopes I can use on my PC that will allow me to view the waveforms being played on my synths?

Just curious that's all...?
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John
My Gallery | iMac | Virus TI | Korg KARMA

[Lorenzo]

I'm using audioxplorer but don't know if is there only a mac version or a pc version too...
Regards, Lorenzo
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http://www.synthaddicted.com

[Daz]

I use this :

http://bram.smartelectronix.com/plugins.php?id=4

... damn handy ! There's both Mac and Windows versions.

Just pop it into a VST effect slot in your favourite audio software and route audio at it.

Free

Daz.

[sewa]

Cool!

Thanks guys

[ricky recordo]

I use a big old 60s analog Fairchild 766H scope I copped from my dad's laboratory years ago. It still works great and like any analog gear in the 60s is loaded with all manner of knobs and switches for banging around the waveforms in realtime. I've seen a few similar scopes in the Toronto pawnshops going pretty cheap and man do my students love playing with it!

One went on ebay cheap recently

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fairchild-Dumont-766H-Dual-Channel-Oscilloscope_W0QQitemZ230084661877QQihZ013QQcategoryZ104247QQcmdZViewItem

I'm going to Dad's place this weekend to pillage his lab, as he's finally talking about giving up the place and moving closer to us He and his two partners spent many happy hours in there drinking red wine, soldering, welding and machining bits and pieces, all in the name of designing equipment for geophysical exploration, drinking beer as well at times and teaching me about electronics and science. There is so much vintage ie gently used test equipment in there - huge oscillator boxes that spit out a few simple waveforms from 20-20000 hz controlled by a triaxial concentric fine tuning knob array, great big honkin' Simpson meters, even a prototype quartz-controlled gravity meter that as I recall could measure the drop in the road surface as a car drove by from 30 metres distance, and a one-off stereo prototype they built - I already have their electrostatic headphone prototype here and apart from some HUGE earpieces they work a treat and sound brilliant.

The main rack in my studio right now is a 1960s vintage Hewlett Packard "TESTMOBILE", a beautiful 16 space rig sitting on heavy duty 6" casters with a lockable tilting top surface and 120 VAC outlets galore on the back. It's pretty damned deep though so working in from behind takes a bit of reaching. Originally it was just able to fit a single Berlant 2-channel tape recorder made largely out of cast iron parts, with motors that would be overkill in a washing machine (yeah, I have that here too along with the stereo Berlant tube preamp). I don't know what they recorded with it.

Gimme the old skool stuff any day

Sorry for veering off topic, but old skool rules!

Ever wonder about my avatar? There you go...

[ricky recordo]

Justt to add a bit of context to that last ramble, Dad began as director of R&D at the Canadian office of Scintrex Geophysical Instruments in the early 1960s, which has since become

http://www.scintrexltd.com/

He retired in 1986 but still kicks some serious geophysics ass

...and I still have his kickass scope (had to bring this thread around full circle somehow)

[JohnnyAardvark]

Hi,

I wondered how use them and what for?

cheers,

Steve

[ricky recordo]

Hi Johnny,

Look here: http://www.doctronics.co.uk/scope.htm


There are many analytical uses for o'scopes. My use though is limited to showing students what the waveforms they're hearing look like, as sort of a mini physics of music tutorial. I may use it to demonstrate how A440 vibrates at half the rate of A880, or what a sawtooth wave looks like, or a square wave, or a pulse wave, or simply what their voice waveforms look like when they scream into a mic. I originally "borrowed" Dad's scope to check the accuracy of the waveforms on my new Casio CZ101... suffice it to say that they come close but no cigar.

He said I could hang on to it for as long as I needed, so it's still here

BTW a zube tube is also a great way to show kids how sound moves in waves that they can hear, see and feel:

http://www.zubetube.com/

[JohnnyAardvark]

Thanks Ricky,

I guessed they would be good for viewing wave forms and have also used them (simply) in an educational context in that past. In fact I am teaching some A level students how to use them for measuring frequency and amplitude on Monday!

I also wondered though, if there was a more practical use for recording artists/musicians? Ok, most likely could be useful for a sound designer. I remember Cubase VST 32 had a scope. I did not really know what it was useful for?

Steve

[dulcimoo]

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/VA/