Oscilla

A browser-based framework for creating, performing, and sharing animated, cue-driven graphic scores.

Oscilla sits between notation, performance, and live electronic control, allowing composers to design scores that move, react, and synchronize across performers' devices — while remaining readable, editable, and shareable.

If you can draw it in SVG, Oscilla can turn it into a time-based, interactive score.

What Kind of System Is Oscilla?

Oscilla is a modular score execution platform combining:

Cue-based timing and control – declarative behavior embedded in notation
Animated graphic notation – SVG-driven visual scores with motion, transformation, and path-following
Networked synchronization – WebSockets for ensemble coordination, OSC for external media systems
Browser-native media playback – audio, video, synthesis, and text rendered directly in the score

It is designed for composers, improvisers, and performers working with hybrid notation practices.

Download

Current version: 0.8.1

Application

The recommended way to run Oscilla. A double-clickable app with a small server control panel: one click opens the score, and other people on the same network join by scanning a QR code or typing the address shown.

macOS macOS 12 or newer — Intel, and Apple Silicon via Rosetta macOS — older systems macOS 11 Big Sur only — use this if the download above will not open Windows Windows 10 or newer — x64 Linux — Debian / Ubuntu .deb — x86_64, adds Oscilla to the applications menu Linux — other distributions AppImage — x86_64, needs libfuse2

First run. These apps are not code-signed, so each system asks once:

macOS — unzip, drag Oscilla.app into Applications, then right-click it and choose Open. Opening it by double-click the first time is refused. A READ ME FIRST note with these steps is included in the download.
macOS 11 Big Sur — take the older systems build. The main macOS download requires macOS 12 and will not open on Big Sur. It is otherwise the same app, but built on an Electron release that no longer receives security updates.
Windows — unzip the folder anywhere and run Oscilla.exe. If SmartScreen warns, click More info → Run anyway.
Linux, Debian or Ubuntu — install the .deb by double-clicking it, or with sudo apt install ./oscilla_0.8.1_amd64.deb. Oscilla then appears in the applications menu like any other program, and sudo apt remove oscilla removes it.
Linux, other distributions — make the AppImage executable, then run it: chmod +x Oscilla-0.8.1-linux-x86_64.AppImage. AppImages need FUSE; if it exits with error loading libfuse.so.2, install it (sudo apt install libfuse2t64 on Debian/Ubuntu, where it is no longer present by default) or use the .deb above, which does not need it.

Server only — no window

For a machine with no screen, for running several instances at once, or for keeping Oscilla up as a background service. This binary has no interface of its own: it starts the server and prints an address to open in a browser on any device. It takes command-line flags, so several can run side by side on different ports.

Linux server x64 — no desktop needed

chmod +x oscilla-0.8.1-linux-x64
./oscilla-0.8.1-linux-x64 --port=8010 --osc-in=57131 --osc-out=57130

It carries the same demo scores as the applications. On macOS and Windows use the application above — it contains the very same server, just with a window attached.

Get Started

Documentation — Complete guides and reference
Repository — Source code and issues

What Can You Do With Oscilla?

Create Animated Graphic Scores
Draw notation in Inkscape, attach behaviors to elements, and animate rotation, scaling, paths, and visibility over time.

Coordinate Ensemble Performance
Synchronize scores across multiple devices via a local server. Support fixed form, open form, or hybrid structures.

Control Electronics
Paths, shapes, and points can function as trajectories, timelines, or control curves that drive time, density, position, or other parameters.

Work With Composed Improvisation
Cues can branch, repeat, pause, and trigger events, allowing the score to guide behavior rather than prescribe outcomes.

Academic Reference

R. Canning, Oscilla: The Score as Performable Interface, Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), London, 2026. doi:10.5281/zenodo.20784238

R. Canning, Scores That Run: Graphic Notation with Embedded Performance Semantics, Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), Hamburg, 2026.

R. Canning, OscillaScore: A Modular Platform for Graphic Notation in Networked Music Performance, Proceedings of the International Conference on Technologies for Music Notation and Representation (TENOR), Beijing, 2025. PDF

Earlier work these systems grew out of:

R. Canning, Interactive Parallax Scrolling Score Interface for Composed Networked Improvisation, Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), Goldsmiths, University of London, 2014. PDF

R. Canning, Real-Time Web Technologies in the Networked Performance Environment, Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), Ljubljana, 2012. Archive

R. Canning, The M2 Compositions: A Technical Overview of a Modular Work Flow Towards the Creation of a Video Score, Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), Huddersfield, 2011. Archive

Workshops and Residencies

Rizodencies 2026: Scores — 1–28 September 2026, Zavod Rizoma, Čermožiše (Haloze), Slovenia. A month-long residency mentoring four sound artists, composers and improvisers working intensively with Oscilla, closing with a public concert in Čermožiše. A recording and the scores will be published — details to be announced. Funded by Culture Moves Europe (Goethe-Institut / European Union).

Oscilla — Workshop on Animated Graphic Scores — 8–10 June 2026, Stara mestna elektrarna, Ljubljana. A three-day workshop organised by Emanat.

Oscilla — Workshop on Animated Graphic Audio Scores — 28–29 May 2026, Radiona, Zagreb. Two days, at the midpoint of an artist residency at Radiona running from the last week of May into early June 2026.

Evaluating Oscilla as a Performable Sound Score System — workshop at TENOR 2026, 21 May 2026, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Alte Postsparkasse, Vienna.

Executable Scores: Embedded Cue Semantics and Animated SVG Notation with Oscilla — workshop at ICMC 2026, 14 May 2026, Hamburg University of Technology.

Open Source

Oscilla is free and open source software, hosted by the community at kompot.si.

Mailing list. Questions, announcements and discussion happen on the Oscilla list, oscilla@kompot.si. Subscribe or read the archives — you can subscribe with just an email address, no account needed.

Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.

Developed with assistance from Anthropic Claude Opus 4.6