OscilloScoop is an interactive music app for iOS that runs on the iPad

IPad

The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...

, iPhone

IPhone

The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

, and iPod Touch

IPod Touch

The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...

, available through the iTunes App Store. The app presents a real-time interface for creating electronic music in various electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 genres from hip hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

 to techno

Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

 and house

House music

House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

. The app is designed with a minimalist modern interface of three colored crowns, that spin like potters' wheels. Touching each crown affects the parameters of the audio. The top crown controls pitch, the middle a low pass resonant filter, and the bottom a fader. Controls on the left allow one to change the bassline

Bassline

A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...

 beat, while buttons on the right allow the user to save their creation, and a slider below controls tempo.

In 2011, OscilloScoop won the ZKM

Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe

The Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe in Karlsruhe, Germany is an interdisciplinary art museum and research institution focusing on new media....

 App Art Award, the first award ever given to art apps.

History

OscilloScoop was designed by Lukas Girling, a creator of interactive musical interfaces who has worked with world-renowned musicians and music technologists including Laurie Anderson and Max Mathews. The app was created in collaboration with interactive artist and programmer Scott Snibbe

Scott Snibbe

Scott Snibbe is an interactive media artist, researcher, and entrepreneur. He is one of the first artists to work with projector-based interactivity, where a computer-controlled projection onto a wall or floor changes in response to people moving across its surface, with his well-known full-body...

, author of the bestselling apps Bubble Harp and Gravilux; and Graham McDermott, noted video game and app developer.

Girling and Snibbe began working together in 1996 at Interval Research researching new forms of musical instruments with Joy Mountford and Bob Adams. As part of the research groups there, they were able to collaborate with, and learn from highly regarded musicians and musical pioneers including Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

, Laurie Anderson

Laurie Anderson

Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is an American experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance-art piece in the late 1960s...

, and Max Mathews

Max Mathews

Max Vernon Mathews was a pioneer in the world of computer music.-Biography:...

. Their work at Interval Research was never published, and they recently re-united to produce a new app for iOS that allows ordinary people to create electronic music with similar results as professionals.

Their work borrows from the language of DJs, using the body's movements to create music in real-time, rather than composing music slice-by-slice with complex music authoring tools like ProTools and Ableton Live

Ableton Live

Ableton Live is a loop-based software music sequencer and DAW for Mac OS and Windows by Ableton. The latest major release of Live, Version 8, was released in April 2009. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for...

, creating "something as effortless (and fun) as Super Mario," according to Snibbe.