Bus Error Collective’s Primer Showcases Oscilloscope Music at its Finest

Primer by the Bus Error Collective is an oscilloscope music piece that took 1st place in the Wild category and Crowd Favorite at Revision 2025, a big demoscene event, showing off what’s possible with an electronic test tool.

Oscilloscope music is a unique style where sound signals are made to create both music and visuals when played through an oscilloscope, a device that shows electrical waveforms. The trick is crafting music that sounds nice while also drawing vector pictures on the oscilloscope screen—like a supercharged audio-visual Etch-a-Sketch.

An oscilloscope shows audio signals in X-Y mode, where the left audio channel moves the X-axis (side to side) and the right channel moves the Y-axis (up and down). By carefully shaping stereo sound, artists get the oscilloscope to draw shapes, patterns, or even 3D-like images. For Primer, the Bus Error Collective probably used software to make exact waveforms that work as both music and visuals.


The sound is usually created synthetically to control the oscilloscope’s display. Tools like Max/MSP, Pure Data, or custom programs help artists make sounds that form specific shapes. For instance, sine waves with different frequencies and phases can draw circles or Lissajous curves, while trickier waveforms make detailed designs. The Bus Error Collective would’ve worked to make the music sound good and the visuals look awesome.


To make it happen, they’d hook up an audio source (like a computer or synthesizer) to an analog oscilloscope (like a Leader LBO-51MA, used in similar projects). The oscilloscope’s CRT screen shows the visuals live as the music plays. Digital oscilloscopes can do the job too, but analog ones have a cozy, old-school feel that demoscene fans love.
[Source]