MOTM

Since the VCO kit really requires a scope to really check it out, I went to
www.ebay.com and searched the current scope offerings. There were over 75
available,
95% would work for analog synth poking around.

Here is a quick guide:

1) 50Mhz is all you need. 40 is OK, 20 is too slow, even for audio. Buy Tek
if you can (Tektronics).
2) Avoid the following:

HP: the HP17xx scopes are easily the worse product line in the history of
HP. *trust me*
military: requires 4 people to lift it.
Dumont: tubes
Heathkit or Eico: crappy & more crappy

3) Good buys: Philips (vastly underrated scopes), B&K Precision (had one for
8 years)

Note that 99% of these DO NOT come with probes. Meduim quality, 50Mhz probes
are about $35 ea.
and you will need 2.

4) Best solution if you have LOTS of room: Tek 7000 series. In the mid-80s
this was TEK's "flagship" line.
You get a 'mainframe' (power supply and CRT) with room for 'plug-ins'
(usually 4-wide). A dual-channel,
150Mhz delayed-sweep 7000 was $12,500 in 1984. Today, you can get the
*exact* same configuration for $400!!

What's the catch??? Well, they are *BIG*. About the size of 1 drawer in a
filing cabinet. In other words, they
are *DEEP*. I mean like 28 inches deep. But, if you have the space
(depth-wise) these puppies rock the scope world.

I use a TEK TAS250 (2 ch, 50Mhz, no delayed sweep) for all MOTM check-out.
This is a smaller, lightweight portable
scope. I bought a "demo" unit off the web from a liquidator for $400. It was
*brand new in the box*! This was a $1300 new
scope. I also have a TEK TDS380 2Ghz , 450Mhz sampling scope. I won't say
how much THAT cost: let's say that
*replacement* probes are $395 each!!!

I you find something, and want me to go look at it, send me the URL of the
page (ebay has a cute feature that does this).

Paul Schreiber

Here's a couple of addresses of interest for those looking for
a tek scope:

http://www.goodnet.com/~brogers/scopes.htm
http://www.aactrinity.com/tektroni.htm

Tomy


Paul Schreiber wrote:

>
> From: "Paul Schreiber" <synth1@...>
>
> Since the VCO kit really requires a scope to really check it out, I went to
> www.ebay.com and searched the current scope offerings. There were over 75
> available,
> 95% would work for analog synth poking around.
>
> Here is a quick guide:
>
> 1) 50Mhz is all you need. 40 is OK, 20 is too slow, even for audio. Buy Tek
> if you can (Tektronics).
> 2) Avoid the following:
>
> HP: the HP17xx scopes are easily the worse product line in the history of
> HP. *trust me*
> military: requires 4 people to lift it.
> Dumont: tubes
> Heathkit or Eico: crappy & more crappy
>
> 3) Good buys: Philips (vastly underrated scopes), B&K Precision (had one for
> 8 years)
>
> Note that 99% of these DO NOT come with probes. Meduim quality, 50Mhz probes
> are about $35 ea.
> and you will need 2.
>
> 4) Best solution if you have LOTS of room: Tek 7000 series. In the mid-80s
> this was TEK's "flagship" line.
> You get a 'mainframe' (power supply and CRT) with room for 'plug-ins'
> (usually 4-wide). A dual-channel,
> 150Mhz delayed-sweep 7000 was $12,500 in 1984. Today, you can get the
> *exact* same configuration for $400!!
>
> What's the catch??? Well, they are *BIG*. About the size of 1 drawer in a
> filing cabinet. In other words, they
> are *DEEP*. I mean like 28 inches deep. But, if you have the space
> (depth-wise) these puppies rock the scope world.
>
> I use a TEK TAS250 (2 ch, 50Mhz, no delayed sweep) for all MOTM check-out.
> This is a smaller, lightweight portable
> scope. I bought a "demo" unit off the web from a liquidator for $400. It was
> *brand new in the box*! This was a $1300 new
> scope. I also have a TEK TDS380 2Ghz , 450Mhz sampling scope. I won't say
> how much THAT cost: let's say that
> *replacement* probes are $395 each!!!
>
> I you find something, and want me to go look at it, send me the URL of the
> page (ebay has a cute feature that does this).
>
> Paul Schreiber
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
> to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
> select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.

Please do not take the previous post to imply a scope is *REQUIRED* for
building the VCO. It's not.

However, I'm simply stating that you will not be able to 100% verify the
outputs without looking!

Paul S.


-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Hudson <thudson@...>
To: motm@onelist.com <motm@onelist.com>
Date: Wednesday, February 03, 1999 9:12 AM
Subject: [motm] Re: Oscilloscopes

>From: Thomas Hudson <thudson@...>
>
>
>Here's a couple of addresses of interest for those looking for
>a tek scope:
>
>http://www.goodnet.com/~brogers/scopes.htm
>http://www.aactrinity.com/tektroni.htm
>
>Tomy
>
>
>Paul Schreiber wrote:
>>
>> From: "Paul Schreiber" <synth1@...>
>>
>> Since the VCO kit really requires a scope to really check it out, I went

to

>> www.ebay.com and searched the current scope offerings. There were over 75
>> available,
>> 95% would work for analog synth poking around.
>>
>> Here is a quick guide:
>>
>> 1) 50Mhz is all you need. 40 is OK, 20 is too slow, even for audio. Buy

Tek

>> if you can (Tektronics).
>> 2) Avoid the following:
>>
>> HP: the HP17xx scopes are easily the worse product line in the history of
>> HP. *trust me*
>> military: requires 4 people to lift it.
>> Dumont: tubes
>> Heathkit or Eico: crappy & more crappy
>>
>> 3) Good buys: Philips (vastly underrated scopes), B&K Precision (had one

for

>> 8 years)
>>
>> Note that 99% of these DO NOT come with probes. Meduim quality, 50Mhz

probes

>> are about $35 ea.
>> and you will need 2.
>>
>> 4) Best solution if you have LOTS of room: Tek 7000 series. In the

mid-80s

>> this was TEK's "flagship" line.
>> You get a 'mainframe' (power supply and CRT) with room for 'plug-ins'
>> (usually 4-wide). A dual-channel,
>> 150Mhz delayed-sweep 7000 was $12,500 in 1984. Today, you can get the
>> *exact* same configuration for $400!!
>>
>> What's the catch??? Well, they are *BIG*. About the size of 1 drawer in a
>> filing cabinet. In other words, they
>> are *DEEP*. I mean like 28 inches deep. But, if you have the space
>> (depth-wise) these puppies rock the scope world.
>>
>> I use a TEK TAS250 (2 ch, 50Mhz, no delayed sweep) for all MOTM

check-out.

>> This is a smaller, lightweight portable
>> scope. I bought a "demo" unit off the web from a liquidator for $400. It

was

>> *brand new in the box*! This was a $1300 new
>> scope. I also have a TEK TDS380 2Ghz , 450Mhz sampling scope. I won't say
>> how much THAT cost: let's say that
>> *replacement* probes are $395 each!!!
>>
>> I you find something, and want me to go look at it, send me the URL of

the

>> page (ebay has a cute feature that does this).
>>
>> Paul Schreiber
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
>> to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
>> select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
>to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
>select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.
>

I am thinking about buying an oscilloscope. There are loads for sale
and just wondered if anyone has any tips on what to look for or
indeed avoid. Is 20mhz enough or will I soon be wanting more.
Thanks for any help
Steve M.

I use a Tek T922 15Mhz scope ($40 ebay) and a 7603 mainframe 200mhz scope
w/freq counter ($125 ham fest). Both are perfect.

An LED scope would be fun - definitely need a separate power supply though.
I've been wondering, how cool would it be to MOTM-ize one of those Tek SC501
mini-scopes?!

Cheers,
George

----- Original Message -----
From: Tkacs, Ken <ken.tkacs@...>
To: MOTM Forum All <MOTM@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 9:11 AM
Subject: FW: [motm] Oscilloscopes


>
> I'll throw out an opinion, but I'll leave the door open for the more
> knowledgeable among us to shoot it down hard... ;)
>
> If you intend on using it for lots of electronic work, especially digital
> circuit development, I can't answer that. I myself permanently borrowed an
> "older" scope (circa 1985) from my brother; he ignores it because it isn't
> the "latest & greatest," but for me, I'm only interested in audio-range
> stuff, and it is FAR MORE than adequate for that.
>
> For what I use it for, I couldn't justify buying a state of the art scope,
> but it sure is nice to have around when playing with the synth. I use the
> MOTM-940 Patch Panel more often than not to hook the scope in and watch
the
> pretty pictures. For anyone new to analog synthesis, I recommend borrowing
a
> scope for a few weeks to play with; there's a weird kind of "feedback," if
> you will, that happens when you can connect a visual of the waveform with
> its sound, even though of course a scope doesn't tell the whole story in
> that regard. But to understand what happens to a waveform as you move a
> LPF's cutoff frequency knob, or to see what PWM looks like... it's
valuable.
>
> And, of course, for adjusting a VCO's triangle symmetry, what could be
> better than a scope? Although the ear, in truth, can do a very good job.
>
> I guess all I'm saying is that if you just want it for audio, you can go
> pretty cheap, even grab scopes that engineers consider "so last week"
> because the needs of audio are negligible. But if you are an engineer and
> want it for advanced work, someone else would have to opine here.
>
> Tech America and places like that sell these "LED scope" kits... have you
> seen these? Atrocious resolution, but I have sometimes mused about making
an
> MOTM-format module out of one. It's basically something like a 20 x 20
grid
> of LEDs that will act as a crude scope. The current draw must be pretty
> considerable, but it might be cool to have that baby flashing away as the
> synth plays... we have some LED fanatics on the list, and I'm surprised no
> one has mentioned this idea before, unless a 20x20 resolution is really
just
> too atrocious to bother with. But use some blue LEDs, and it could really
> light up a room!!
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: noisejazz [mailto:s.f.martin@...]
>
> I am thinking about buying an oscilloscope. There are loads for sale
> and just wondered if anyone has any tips on what to look for or
> indeed avoid. Is 20mhz enough or will I soon be wanting more.
> Thanks for any help
> Steve M.

Just a belated thanks to all those who offered advice regarding
oscilloscopes. It seemed in the end that the best thing was to go
for a cheap 20mhz scope so I could use it for audio and then move up
the scale if I needed to later. I was quite lucky reall I ended up
with a 20mhz scope for about $30 from ebay it works fine.
I have just been looking at the sine wave produced from a 300 vco.
Even with my little experience I can see that it is very impressive
indeed especially when compared to the doepfer.
Thanks again
Steve M.