When Jon Grove started work on a VST synth plugin, he didn't know that project would lead instead to the creation of something totally different. That something different is Jon Grove's J-Scope, an oscilloscope plugin for Windows borne out of his need for an easy to understand 'scope.

The maker of the plugin writes, "Whilst experimenting with writing a VST synthesizer plugin, I found I needed an oscilloscope whose behavior I understood. The synth plugin has not yet made it to a state where I feel it’s worth releasing, but I think the oscilloscope may be useful to someone. I’ve tried to make it fairly similar to a real oscilloscope, although the fact that the waveform that is fed to it bursts -- and doesn't necessarily synchronize with the computer’s display refresh rate or with the oscilloscope’s sweep rate -- makes it hard to accurately model a real screen."

The J-Scope oscilloscope plugin is currently available as a 32-bit Windows VST plugin only.

J-Scope accepts a stereo signal, and can display it in several modes:

• Two separate traces, L and R
• Single trace, sum of L and R
• Single trace, difference between L and R
• X/Y (Lissajous) plot, L vs R
• X/Y (Lissajous) plot, Sum (L+R) vs Diff (L-R)

Other features of J-Scope include the following:

• Timebase from 1s / div (0.1 Hz) to 0.1ms / div (1 kHz)
• Gain (Y) from x0.1 to x100
• DC or AC coupled
• Variable X-offset of trace(s)
• Y-offsets of stereo traces individually adjustable
• Adjustable trigger level, on positive or negative slopes
• Delayed triggering
• Display freeze option
• Adjustable phosphor persistence
• Optional graticule with variable brightness
• 8 Preset modes for quick setup

Jon Grove's J-Scope oscilloscope plugin for Windows (VST) may be downloaded for free from jaggedplanet.com.