SCOPE LASER VIZ DOCS BLOG

OSC-1 Oscilloscope Getting Started with OSC-1

Sessions & Projects UI Modes OSC-1 on a Phone Settings Triggering Audio Sources Viktor NV-1 Synthesizer Beam Effects Scope Presets Shape Tools Text Tools 3D Import Settings Performance Mode Video Source Export Hardware Control Keyboard Shortcuts Troubleshooting FAQ

Getting Started with OSC-1

Play your first oscilloscope music track and explore the XY display in under 2 minutes.

OSC-1 is ready the moment you open it — no setup required. This guide gets you from zero to playing oscilloscope music in under 2 minutes.

Prefer to watch? This walkthrough covers the same first session — one click of oscilloscope music, scope styling, and a 3D model traced live on the scope.

Step 1: Open OSC-1

Navigate to /scope. The oscilloscope display loads immediately, showing the default idle pattern.

OSC-1 freshly opened in Oscilloscope mode: the Sources panel on the left with CLICK OR DRAG AUDIO FILE HERE, SHARE TAB AUDIO and ALL SOURCES, the dark scope in the center showing the parked beam dot and a PLAY A DEMO button, and the Scope Presets and Beam Properties panels on the right — A fresh OSC-1: the idle beam dot waits in the center, one click from a demo.

OSC-1 is tested in Chrome and Edge. MIDI, WebGPU beam modes, and laser hardware output have different browser and device requirements, so check Browser Support for the current matrix.

Step 2: Pick a Track

Click ALL SOURCES in the AUDIO SOURCE section of the Sources panel, choose DEMO TRACK, and use the Track Library dropdown. It contains a curated collection grouped into Test Tones, Demos, Shapes, and Oscilloscope Music — including tracks specifically made using stereo XY audio synthesis.

Select any track to load it.

Clicking ALL SOURCES opens SCOPE SETTINGS on the AUDIO tab with CHOOSE AUDIO SOURCE; clicking the DEMO TRACK card shows the TRACK LIBRARY dropdown, and choosing Scope Etude loads it into the CURRENT SOURCE card — ALL SOURCES → DEMO TRACK → pick a track from the TRACK LIBRARY — hover to watch.

Step 3: Press Play

Press Space or click the Play button. The XY display comes alive with Lissajous patterns driven by the audio.

Clicking Play in the transport bar under the scope: the display comes alive with green looping shapes from the Scope Etude demo track while the LEVELS meters bounce — Press Play and the demo track draws itself on the scope — hover to watch.

In a hurry? On a fresh page you can skip Step 2 entirely — pressing Space (or clicking ▶ Play a demo on the empty display) loads and plays a demo track automatically.

What you're seeing: the left audio channel drives the X (horizontal) axis, the right channel drives the Y (vertical) axis. The resulting shape is a real-time Lissajous figure — the exact same visualization you'd see on a hardware oscilloscope.

Step 4: Try Different Scope Presets

In the Scope Presets widget at the top of the right-hand Properties panel, click through the 8 scope presets to change the display character:

Tektronix 465 — classic green phosphor, the reference look
Vector Display — clean, high-contrast razor-sharp lines
Laser Sharp — optimized for laser DAC output monitoring
Amber CRT — warm amber phosphor vintage aesthetic

Each preset changes the phosphor color, bloom intensity, afterglow decay, and beam width. See Scope Presets for the full breakdown.

Clicking TEKTRONIX 465, VECTOR DISPLAY, LASER SHARP and AMBER CRT in the Scope Presets panel while the demo track plays: the same shapes redraw in pale green, bright green with trails, a razor-thin line, and warm amber glow — Four presets on the same track — hover to watch the display character change.

Step 5: Try Beam Effects

Beam effects live in Creator and Performance mode — click CREATOR in the header, then open the Beam Effects panel in the right-hand Properties sidebar and enable one of the 15 XY beam effects — Rotate, Swirl, or Kaleidoscope are good starting points. Effects transform the geometry of the XY signal in real-time without affecting the underlying audio. See Beam Effects for all 15.

In Creator mode with the demo track playing, clicking ROTATE, SWIRL and KALEID in the Beam Effects panel: the shapes start turning, bend into a swirl, then mirror into a six-segment mandala — ROTATE, then SWIRL, then KALEID — each toggle stacks on the last. Hover to watch.

Tip: High-Resolution Audio

Tracks recorded at 96kHz or 192kHz produce noticeably sharper, more detailed Lissajous figures — the higher sample rate captures more of the high-frequency XY detail. The Current Source card in Settings → Audio shows the loaded file's rate. The bundled Oscilloscope Music tracks are 96kHz.

SCOPE SETTINGS on the AUDIO tab: the CURRENT SOURCE card for Scope Etude shows CHANNELS STEREO, FORMAT WAV and RATE 96.0K, live L and R level bars, the VOLUME slider and STEREO CORRELATION — The CURRENT SOURCE card reports the loaded file's rate — here 96.0K for the bundled Scope Etude.

Volume, Mute, and Live Input

Start quiet. XY audio is loud, shrill and dense with high frequencies — it is designed to draw a picture, not to be pleasant. If you work with it for any length of time, monitor lower than feels natural and take breaks. Set the volume before you press play, not after.

Volume / Mute — the Current Source card in Settings → Audio has a master VOLUME slider (0–100%) and mute button (Ctrl+M also mutes).
CHANGE → TAB / SYSTEM AUDIO → SHARE TAB AUDIO — visualizes browser music in Chrome or Edge with no audio driver.
CHANGE → MICROPHONE → START LIVE INPUT — switches the source to your microphone or audio interface.
BLEND INPUT — when a generator is active, mixes the live input on top of it, with a BLEND gain slider (0–100%).

The CURRENT SOURCE card in SCOPE SETTINGS → AUDIO: dragging VOLUME from 100% down to 30% and up to 75%, then clicking the mute button next to CHANGE and clicking it again to unmute — VOLUME and mute live on the CURRENT SOURCE card — the scope keeps drawing at full signal either way. Hover to watch.

Related

How to make oscilloscope music — the illustrated version, from a first Lissajous figure to laser output
OsciStudio vs osci-render vs OSC-1 — how OSC-1 compares with the desktop tools

Next Steps

Techniques

How the medium actually works — fidelity, phase, multiple objects, brightness, harmony

UI Modes

Switch to Creator or Performance mode for more features

Sessions & Projects

The projects library, autosave, Cmd+S, and .beamtracer files

Viktor NV-1 Synth

Play your own XY music with the built-in synthesizer

Beam Effects

All 15 real-time XY effects explained

Hardware

Output to a laser DAC for real hardware display

Related guides

Hardware Control
MIDI, OSC, and laser DAC setup for OSC-1 — Web MIDI, MIDI Learn, Helios WebUSB, Ether Dream, and LaserCube.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about OSC-1 Oscilloscope.
Keyboard Shortcuts
All keyboard shortcuts for OSC-1 Oscilloscope, organized by category.
Export
Export an OSC-1 session as frame-accurate video or a live recording in 16:9, 1:1 or 9:16 — with a transparent background if you want one — or as WAV audio, an ILDA frame, SVG, or 3D→XY audio.

OSC-1 Oscilloscope

Professional XY oscilloscope music platform — built-in synthesizer, 15 beam effects, 8 scope presets, MIDI control, laser DAC output, and video export.

Techniques

The oscilloscope music technique reference — drawing with sound, phase manipulation, multiple objects, brightness, harmony, fidelity and 3D, in one place.

On this page

Step 1: Open OSC-1 Step 2: Pick a Track Step 3: Press Play Step 4: Try Different Scope Presets Step 5: Try Beam Effects Tip: High-Resolution Audio Volume, Mute, and Live Input Related Next Steps