Techniques
Effects dictionary
A two-way reference — what each audio effect looks like on an XY oscilloscope, and what each visual transform sounds like.
Because the picture and the sound are one signal, every audio effect is also a visual effect and every visual transform is also an audio effect. This page is the translation table, in both directions.
Reach for it when you know the result you want in one domain and need to know what to do in the other.
Audio effect to visual result
| Effect | What it looks like | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Low-pass filter | The image smooths; corners soften and detail is lost | Quick moves and sharp turns are the high frequencies. Removing them removes the corners. |
| High-pass filter | The figure shrinks toward the centre and may drift | The lowest frequencies carry the overall position and size, so removing them removes the shape's anchor. |
| Reverb | A stable shimmer or halo around the figure | Delayed copies at roughly the input's own frequency, so the added motion stays visually related. |
| Delay / echo | Ghost copies of the figure, offset in position | A delayed signal is the same path arriving later, which is a different phase — so it draws in a different place. |
| Distortion / saturation | Consistent warping — corners pulled, curves flattened | A fixed non-linear map from voltage to position. Same input always warps the same way. |
| Downsampling / bitcrush | The beam lingers, then jumps; a stepped, blocky path | Each sample holds its position for longer, so the path becomes a staircase. |
| Phaser | The shape differs, and how it differs drifts over time | Frequency-selective attenuation that sweeps, so the affected part of the path keeps changing. |
| Chorus | Soft thickening and gentle wobble | Slightly detuned copies. Detune means the ratio is not exact, so the copy drifts. |
| Ring / amplitude modulation | New structure appears; harmonically related modulators give stable form | Multiplying by another signal adds and subtracts frequencies. Whole-number relationships close, so they hold still. |
| Compression | The figure breathes — swelling and settling with the music | Gain is size. Changing gain over time changes size over time. |
| Stereo widening | The figure stretches diagonally, or opens from a line into a loop | Width is the difference between channels, and the difference between X and Y is exactly what makes a shape rather than a diagonal. |
| Mono / collapse | The figure flattens to a 45-degree diagonal line | X and Y become identical, so every point satisfies x = y. |
| Pitch shift | Same shape, drawn faster or slower; brightness and stability change with it | Pitch is drawing rate. See Fidelity. |
Visual transform to audio result
The inverse direction, which is less often written down and just as useful.
| Transform | What it sounds like | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Any geometric warp | Distortion | A non-linear map from input voltage to output voltage is the literal definition of distortion. |
| Scaling | Volume change | Amplitude is size. |
| Rotation | A phase and balance shift between channels; timbre largely intact | Rotation mixes X into Y, which is a stereo matrix operation. |
| Translation | A DC offset; often inaudible but it moves the image | A constant added to a channel. |
| Drawing the path in a different order | A completely different sound, same picture | The sound comes from the path taken, not the shape drawn. |
| Changing beam speed around the figure | Timbre change; also a brightness change | See Brightness. |
| Adding copies | A chord | See Harmony. |
| Removing hidden lines | Pitch drops, often by half or more | Fewer edges, shorter lap, lower fundamental. See 3D. |
| Snapping to a shape | Harsh distortion | Forcing every sample onto a fixed set of points is an aggressive non-linear map. |
The principle underneath
One line is worth more than the whole table:
The sound does not come from what the shape looks like. It comes from the specific path used to draw the shape.
Two figures that look identical can sound completely different if the beam takes a different route or a different schedule around them. This is why beam speed is a timbre control, why drawing order matters, and why a shape is a starting point rather than a finished result.
Using it in practice
- Start from whichever domain you have a clear intention in. If you know you want a grainy image, downsampling is the move; if you know you want the sound to thicken, adding copies will also change the picture, so plan for both.
- Expect every change to cost something in the other domain. There are no visual-only effects and no audio-only effects on this path.
- Display-side controls are the exception. Persistence, bloom, phosphor color and beam width change the picture without touching the signal. When you want a purely visual change, that is where to make it — see Beam effects.
Related
- What audio effects look like on an oscilloscope — the illustrated version
- Beam effects — display-side controls that do not alter the signal
- Performance mode — the layer and blend stack