Korg Poly800/EX800 Users

selloutdesigns wrote:

> I think I am about cave and pick up an oscilloscope for this project
> (and others!). Any recommendations on a good cheap scope for synth
> projects to look for used?

Any dual-trace scope.  One of the good things about oscilloscopes is 
that you can pick up a perfectly good older scope for very little, which 
will do everything you need.

You don't need digital storage (although it's nice to have).  You don't 
need 100MHz (nice to have).  I bought a nice 20MHz dual-trace Iwatsu for 
\ufffd40 off eBay - I chose that one mostly because the seller was a little 
south of Glasgow so it was 20 minute's drive to go and pick it up in 
person (always a good idea with fragile equipment).  Don't forget that 
although it might say "20MHz" on the front, it doesn't just somehow stop 
working at 20MHz, it just becomes less accurate.  I've used my 20MHz 
scope to align the RF stages of a 70MHz transceiver - since all I wanted 
to do was see when I had the strongest signal, how accurately it was 
displayed and how accurate the amplitude measurement was didn't matter 
at all.

The only thing I would say is make sure you get dual-trace.  It's quite 
rare to find modern (<30 years old) scopes that are single-trace, unless 
they were incredibly cheap or incredibly specialised when they were made.

Gordon.