Is the DSO Nano good enough for me?

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pjkelnhofer
 
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Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:46 am

Is the DSO Nano good enough for me?

Post by pjkelnhofer »

I am just getting started out in the maker world. One of the things I am working on a putting an audio signal into my Arduino to build some reactive elements something along the lines of this: https://learn.adafruit.com/piccolo/ or this https://learn.adafruit.com/trinket-soun ... lor-organ/ but using an audio in (via a headphone jack) rather than the microphone with amplifier.

While I am trying to get my audio signal into something in the 0 - 5v range so that the Arduino can does something with it, I have no really way to check any of this. I currently have an op-amp to boost the signal, and then a second circuit adding a DC-offset, but without a scope I have no way to check how well these are working (or if they are at all).

I am using this insctructable to try to get the audio into the Arduino:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Audio-Input/

Not really sure if there is a way to check these things other than a scope. Like I said, I am pretty new to all of this. Learning EE as I go.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Is the DSO Nano good enough for me?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

You're right that it's pretty much necessary to check signals, and some kind of oscilloscope is the tool for the job.

I'd suggest the Saleae 4-channel logic/1-channel analog pod over the DSO Nano though:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2312

The pod itself is a data collection unit, and sends ouptut to a computer for display and further processing. That gives you the advantage of nearly infinite waveform memory, and it's common to want to scroll back and forth along a signal to spot details. It also works as a 4-channel logic analyzer when you want to debug I2C or SPI connections.

Saleae is good about keeping the hardware and interface software updated, which to be honest is more than I can say for the DSO Nano. Most people replace the Nano's stock firmware with a third-party image from around 2013.

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