Test rig

[ef37a]

https://www.elektor.com/products/fnirsi ... tW8.QQ33pb

Looks very good for the money? I am sorely tempted but really have no use for such a thing except to "play" with and that is three months and bit petrol.

Dave.

[Martin Walker]

It does look like good value Dave, especially if you need coverage up to 10MHz, although for basic audio purposes I still use the freeware Visual Analyser PC software utility for my oscilloscope and spectrum analyser requirements:

https://www.sillanumsoft.org/prod01.htm

It does everything I need to do, and with very professional results!

Martin

[James Perrett]

Reaper users have a reasonably good oscilloscope built in. I'm tempted by something like a Picoscope which aren't much more expensive than the one Dave linked to if you go for the basic model. Space is at a bit of a premium here and my conventional scope just takes up too much of it.

[Folderol]

Reaper users have a reasonably good oscilloscope built in. I'm tempted by something like a Picoscope which aren't much more expensive than the one Dave linked to if you go for the basic model. Space is at a bit of a premium here and my conventional scope just takes up too much of it.

I don't know what it's like now, but I tried picoscope a few years back and was somewhat underwhelmed. It's only 8 bit resolution too.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Depends what you're trying to measure, but I use a 2000-series Picoscope (which is 8 bit) and have no problems with it at all for analogue and digital audio work. And its far more powerful and capable than the two-channel CRT telequipment scope I inherited from a BBC skip.

[James Perrett]

I don't know what it's like now, but I tried picoscope a few years back and was somewhat underwhelmed. It's only 8 bit resolution too.

I was surprised to find just how many digital scopes from respected brands are 8 bits. The Keysight scopes that I used at work looked noticeably better than the cheap Rigol scope that someone else bought but the paper specs were remarkably similar.

[Arpangel]

Reaper users have a reasonably good oscilloscope built in.

Do we! and where is it? and here's me just about to go and buy something.

[Nazard]

I was surprised to find just how many digital scopes from respected brands are 8 bits. The Keysight scopes that I used at work looked noticeably better than the cheap Rigol scope that someone else bought but the paper specs were remarkably similar.

Rigol and Siglent are moving or have moved all their current DSOs to 12 bit.

[Folderol]

I was surprised to find just how many digital scopes from respected brands are 8 bits. The Keysight scopes that I used at work looked noticeably better than the cheap Rigol scope that someone else bought but the paper specs were remarkably similar.

Rigol and Siglent are moving or have moved all their current DSOs to 12 bit.

That was done several years ago, and the difference is quite dramatic - without using any interpolation (i.e. smudging).

[James Perrett]

Rigol and Siglent are moving or have moved all their current DSOs to 12 bit.

That was done several years ago, and the difference is quite dramatic - without using any interpolation (i.e. smudging).

Have you directly compared them to something like an 8 bit Keysight 'scope? To use an old computing analogy - the 8 bit Rigol scope that I used felt like the equivalent of using an old CGA display when I was used to using something like SVGA with the Keysight.

[Folderol]

Rigol and Siglent are moving or have moved all their current DSOs to 12 bit.

That was done several years ago, and the difference is quite dramatic - without using any interpolation (i.e. smudging).

Have you directly compared them to something like an 8 bit Keysight 'scope? To use an old computing analogy - the 8 bit Rigol scope that I used felt like the equivalent of using an old CGA display when I was used to using something like SVGA with the Keysight.

No. I've only seen a small subset of digital scopes.

It does of course depend on what you are using them for. For a lot of audio purposes I suppose they are adequate, although I'd always find the pixelation a bit annoying. However, if using them for design work it's a different story. The classic one being testing crossover point on class B amps. I've seen cases where at certain settings you can get a very narrow burst of parasitics which would show up clearly on a 10M analog scope, but be quite invisible on a digital one.

[Martin Walker]

Reaper users have a reasonably good oscilloscope built in.

Do we! and where is it? and here's me just about to go and buy something.

I didn't know either, but I've just found the JS: Oscilloscope Meter plugin

Seems a bit basic though, unless I've missed some controls.

Having said that, I've just also discovered the JS: Bit Meter, which gives a clearer visual display than the one I'm currently using.

[James Perrett]

Reaper users have a reasonably good oscilloscope built in.

Do we! and where is it? and here's me just about to go and buy something.

I didn't know either, but I've just found the JS: Oscilloscope Meter plugin

Seems a bit basic though, unless I've missed some controls.

Check the blue buttons at the top. You get triggering on positive edges or falling edges, variable sensitivity, variable timebase and single shot. If you would like more then, being a JS effect, you can always add extra features yourself.

[Martin Walker]

Check the blue buttons at the top. You get triggering on positive edges or falling edges, variable sensitivity, variable timebase and single shot. If you would like more then, being a JS effect, you can always add extra features yourself.

Yes, I found those, but have spent a lot of time over the years examining the effect of a host of preamp plugins on drum transients, so I'd have to improve the JS triggering options - I found it difficult to get a stable one-shot trace with anything other than simple signals (e.g. a Dirac pulse locked beautifully, but most single drum hits didn't).

[nathanscribe]

I was surprised to find just how many digital scopes from respected brands are 8 bits. The Keysight scopes that I used at work looked noticeably better than the cheap Rigol scope that someone else bought but the paper specs were remarkably similar.

Rigol and Siglent are moving or have moved all their current DSOs to 12 bit.

That was done several years ago, and the difference is quite dramatic - without using any interpolation (i.e. smudging).

Prices on 12-bit scopes have come down now though, the days of the 1054z being the go-to budget unit are numbered! The recent budget 12-bits are very attractive.

[Arpangel]

This Reaper scope is a godsend, all I need it for is for checking synth waveforms, it does that perfectly well.

[Folderol]

I was surprised to find just how many digital scopes from respected brands are 8 bits. The Keysight scopes that I used at work looked noticeably better than the cheap Rigol scope that someone else bought but the paper specs were remarkably similar.

Rigol and Siglent are moving or have moved all their current DSOs to 12 bit.

That was done several years ago, and the difference is quite dramatic - without using any interpolation (i.e. smudging).

Prices on 12-bit scopes have come down now though, the days of the 1054z being the go-to budget unit are numbered! The recent budget 12-bits are very attractive.

Yes I expect they are, but I'm very much out of the loop these days. I've not even fired up my analog scope for quite a few years now

[The Elf]

I wish, I wish, I wish... that I knew how to use one of those things!!

[Folderol]

I wish, I wish, I wish... that I knew how to use one of those things!!

They are one of the rare pieces of kit that can easily be understood (and used) for basic checks, and as you get familiar you can gradually expand your knowledge - at your own pace - until you reach whatever lever of expertise you need.

Modern all-singing-all-dancing ones can provide an enormous amount of highly detailed information.

[Martin Walker]

I wish, I wish, I wish... that I knew how to use one of those things!!

They are one of the rare pieces of kit that can easily be understood (and used) for basic checks, and as you get familiar you can gradually expand your knowledge - at your own pace - until you reach whatever lever of expertise you need.

+1 to this - once you can adjust triggering to get a stable image on the screen rather than a continuously horizontal scrolling waveform, you can zoom in and out to spot more or less detail.

[The Elf]

I don't even have a starting point for what it does, or what I'd do with it. But I suspect that if I did I would have managed to salvage a few more of the broken offerings I take in.

[Drew Stephenson]

I'd kind of like one, just for fun, but I have absolutely no use for it and a very limited toy budget!

[James Perrett]

I don't even have a starting point for what it does, or what I'd do with it. But I suspect that if I did I would have managed to salvage a few more of the broken offerings I take in.

You know the waveform view on your DAW or audio editor? Well that's pretty much an oscilloscope trace.

A standard, old fashioned scope just shows you a small section of waveform in real time while a digital storage scope effectively gives you similar functions to a basic audio editor. You can record a waveform and then scroll and zoom in to the area of interest.

A good digital scope has a much higher sampling rate than a normal audio interface so you can see signals of at least a few MHz and often up to 100MHz or more. Analogue scopes are limited by the bandwidth of their Y amplifiers but they tend to have similar bandwidths to their digital brethren.

[Sam Spoons]

I'd kind of like one, just for fun, but I have absolutely no use for it and a very limited toy budget!

I have an old analogue 'scope and, very occasionally, use it for it's intended purpose. But, mostly, it's a cool toy sat on a shelf in the workshop. I can't remember what I paid for it but it wasn't much (but I'll bet it was more than I paid for my Boxford lathe* but less than I paid for the lathe tooling).

* Which was free but lacked a few bits to allow it to become a fully functioning workshop machine.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I'd kind of like one, just for fun, but I have absolutely no use for it and a very limited toy budget!

The Korg NTS2 is a useful little oscilloscope, tweaked for ease of use in the audio world, and a fun easy assembly project.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/korg-nutekt-nts-2

It's around £150, which might push the toy budget, but its a sweet thing that works well.