osci-render

osci-render is an open-source synthesizer audio plugin for making music by drawing objects, text and images on an oscilloscope using audio. It is available for Windows, macOS and Linux, both as a standalone application and as a VST3 or AU plugin inside a Digital Audio Workstation. What it does - Renders 3D objects (.obj files), SVG vector images, text (.txt) and animated Blender scenes as oscilloscope visuals driven by audio. - Includes a software oscilloscope so you can see the output without external hardware. - Provides a set of image effects such as bit crush, vertical/horizontal distortion, image wobble, image smoothing and image tracing, which can be reordered by dragging and whose parameters can be animated. - Supports MIDI control and DAW parameter automation, so parameters can be driven from a host project. - Allows saving and loading projects. - Is programmable: custom visuals, sounds and audio effects can be scripted in Lua, and the code editor applies changes in real time while a file is playing. Workflow Open the standalone app or add the plugin to a DAW. A default sine wave and circle appear. Use the Choose File button to open .obj, .svg or .txt files, or create new files from built-in examples. The code editor is opened with the arrow button on the right of the interface. Audio effects are enabled in the Audio Effects section; their order can be rearranged and their ranges adjusted by right-clicking an effect name to set minimum and maximum values. Blender integration A Blender add-on is distributed with releases as osci-render-blender-addon.zip. After installing and enabling it, an 'osci-render settings' menu appears under Render Properties. Users click 'Connect to osci-render', add a camera and a Grease Pencil Scene Line Art object, then bake the line art to send the scene to the oscilloscope. A linked video explains the process (made for version 1.0, so the interface differs slightly). MIDI MIDI control is enabled from the MIDI settings at the bottom of the interface. The MIDI device must also be enabled under Audio > Settings in Active MIDI inputs. Installation - Standalone: run osci-render.exe on Windows, osci-render.app on macOS, or the osci-render executable on Linux. macOS security or 'app is damaged' warnings may need to be bypassed. - VST3: copy osci-render.vst3 to the VST plugins folder (typically C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 on Windows or /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3 on macOS) and restart the DAW. - AU: copy osci-render.component to /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components on macOS and restart the DAW. Building on Linux Clone the repository, install the listed development packages (ALSA, JACK, LADSPA, curl, freetype, X11 and related libraries, WebKit2GTK, GLU, Mesa, g++ and make), download JUCE, open osci-render.jucer in Projucer, save the project to generate a Makefile, then build in Builds/LinuxMakefile with make CONFIG=Release or make CONFIG=Debug and run the resulting executable or use the VST3 file. Windows and macOS build instructions are marked TODO in the README. Licensing and distribution The source code is licensed under GPLv3. Project names, logos and branding are not covered by GPLv3 and have separate trademark and branding notices. A free version and a paid premium version are offered through the official website; after purchase a download link is emailed, covering Windows and macOS standalone, VST and AU builds. The README directs questions, feedback and feature requests to the maintainer's email, and links a Discord community and a Codacy grade badge.