[loxias]

Yeah, it would work with /dev/dsp, the primary interface for audio IO in Open Sound System (OSS) -- the first media API for nx operating systems. Around the turn of the century it was replaced in the Linux kernel by the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA). Which, to this day, is still the "lowest level" high performance way to do audio w/ linux.

As for _visualizing_ the audio as video, no, that was never possible w/o writing code. =) And to do it _well_, you need to do some math as well. I say this because I wrote that code in 2001, 2003, then again in 2008, then again later... it's a ... hobby of mine :)