Oscilloscope

[RAGER]

So I got me an oscilloscope basically for free with some other stuff I bought  Dude says it works but he uses a newer smaller kind now.  How do I hook this thing up to audio to see sound waves.  It's a Tektronix Type 453 (circ. 66-70)



This is on the side.


And this probe and clip was plugged into the input via a BNC connector.

[spookstrickland]

Good score!  I need to pick me up one of them really soon.  They are a good tool to have in your arsenal.

[Pissy]

Having the probe is step 1. 

Next find a signal that you want to monitor. I actually have a signal generator app for my phone, or you could take a 1KHz singal mp3 and play it on you iPod, or something and hook the probe to the output signal.

get your screen to scale properly.  So for example the signal coming from an iPod is "line level" ish which ought to be around 100mV (I think).  so the grid on the screen should be comparable per square (Y axis) or somehwere thereabouts in order for it to register.

The X axis will be the frequency and needs to be scaled properly too.  so a side to side 1KHz/square should put the peak of that 1KHz signal at intervals equal to the width of each grid square.

Notice the probe.  does it say something like 10x on it?  Probes typically have a gain to them around 10x or so, and the scope likely has a "10x" setting for the probe to match it up.

Scopes are great fun.

[lordfinesse]

then put the tip of the probe on your pee pee and it becomes an Ohhh-scope. ...   (cue crickets)   but, uh.. yeah. Scopes are great.

[jibberish]

^yeah. you can tell who has fought with these before

read this as reinforcement to what pissy said
visualize time on the x axis, voltage level on the y axis. everything is on that rig to SCALE the values properly so you get a coherent picture

it has 2 y channels so you can compare 2 waves, and there are more adjustments to move the 2 wave pictures around keeping proportion and synch

fire up a synth with a simple sound sustained. clip the probe to the hot and the ground to th shield. start spinning knobs until you see something. remember synth voltage is millivolts(mV) and you can sort of guesstimate freq as being 10*2 or 10*3/sec so choose 10ms or 1 or something near there until you see something. spread the x out by reducing time

mostly start playing. you will get it. also those fucking grid squares on the screen are your best friend

edit: for anyone wanting a scope for casual use, look in to the smaller ones like by fluke that look like an oversized DMM. SS rules in test equipment. there are also PC modules and probably a USB I/O device even. then the PC brains draws the pictures for you on the PC's screen. old school would be a PCI or w/e buss du jour was extant when that scope card was made.