Projekte von Christian Zeitnitz

Soundcard Oscilloscope deutsche Version

Author: Christian Zeitnitz

Main features:

The Soundcard Oscilloscope receives its data from the Soundcard with 44.1kHz and 16 Bit resolution. The data source can be selected in the Windows mixer (Microphone, Line-In or Wave). The frequency range depends on the sound card, but 20-20000Hz should be possible with all modern cards. The low frequency end is limited by the AC coupling of the line-in signal. Be aware, that most microphone inputs are only mono.

The oscilloscope contains in addition a signal generator for 2 channels for Sine, Square, Triangular and Sawtooth wave forms in the frequency range from 0 to 20kHz. These signals are available at the speaker output of the sound card. These can be fed back to the oscillocope in order to generate Lissajous figures in the x-y mode.

Download the latest version: scope V1.32

Obtain a commercial license here

Support the development of this program by obtaining a private donation license

Additional features

• Trigger modes: off, automatic, normal and single shot
• Triggerlevel can be set with the mouse
• The signals of the two channels can be added, subtracted and multiplied
• x-y mode
• Frequency analysis (Fourier spectrum)
• Frequency filter: low-, high- and band-pass
• Cursors to measure amplitude, time and frequency in the main window
• Audio Recorder to save data to a wave file
• For multi soundcard system, the used card can be selected in the settings tab

The program has completely been written in LabView (™ by National Instruments). For the actual Sound I/O part the WaveIO package by the same author has been used. 

Signal Sources

The signals for the oscilloscope can be internal to the computer (MP3 player, function generator etc.) or from external sources (line-in, microphone). For external sources care has to be taken, not to exceed the voltage range of the inputs. The range is usually only ±0.7V !! If higher voltage need to be analyzed, a voltage divider has to be used. Additional protection diodes are recommended in order to avoid any damage to the sound card and to the computer. 

Requirements

This program will run on Windows 2000/XP/Vista computers with a sound card and 30MByte space on disk. It will not install on older versions of Windows. The speed requirements are not very hard. A 1GHz machine is suffient. On slower CPUs the load on the system might lead to reduced responsiveness of the system.

Terms of usage and licenses

This Software and all previous versions are NO Freeware!

• The use of the software and of the documentation is granted free of charge for private and non-commercial use in educational institutions
• Any commercial application requires a corresponding license (see below)
• Distribution and sale of the program is prohibited. Contact the author in order to obtain a resale license.

If you like to support the further development of this program please obtain a private license by following this link

Commercial usage: In order to obtain a commercial license follow this link

All right reserved.

Downloads

Instructions: Unpack the file into a directory of your choice and run the setup.exe program. Enjoy !

Version 1.32

• Changes
  • New cursor to measure the signal properties (when the acquisition is stopped) including an onscreen display of the corresponding time and amplitudes
  • First version which can be licensed
    • Private license to support the further development of the program
    • Commercial license for the usage in companies and non-public educational institutions
• Version 1.32 of the program (all languages): scope_132
• Only the english manual of version 1.32

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Version 1.31

Please uninstall any previous version of the scope software before installing this version

• Changes
  • The different graphs (Oszilloscope, XY-Graph und frequency spectrum) can be stored as graphic files as well as a data files (CSV-file)
  • Time- und amplitude cursor can be activated simultaniously
• Version 1.31 of the program (all languages): scope_131 (ca. 25MB)
• Only the english manual  for version 1.31

Version 1.30

• Changes
  • Improved stability on slower computers
  • The offset of the signal can now be set with the mouse directly on the signal screen
  • Optional automatic on-screen frequency and amplitude measurement
  • Possibility to measure the transfer function between two signals
  • French and czech Versions available
• Acknowledgement
  • Thanks to Francis Brouchier for providing the french translation
  • Thanks to Jakub Jermár and Leoš Dvorák for providing the czech version

Version 1.24

• Changes
  • Bug in re-sampling routine removed 
    • Re-sampling effects only the display and not recorded wave forms
    • For  long time settings the time scale was wrong!
    • This bug is present in ALL prior versions!
  • Multiple language version (english, german)
  • Persistence of the XY-Graph adjustable
  • Amplitude of frequency analysis graph scales automatically (can be disabled)
  • Program remembers the selected sound card for input and output
  • Display of sound properties/mixer from the Extras tab works now on Vista
• Acknowledgement
  • Thanks to Helio and the american teachers for spotting the mentioned bug

Due to a bug in the re-samlping of data (thanks Helio), all versions prior to 1.24 should be updated!

Version 1.23

• Update to Version 1.24

Version 1.22 

• Changes
  • Peak hold function in frequency analysis
  • Signal generator allows now to generate white noise and a frequency sweep
  • Cue points are no longer written to the .wav file by the sound recorder. The Media Player was confused by these extra data

Version 1.21

Version 1.20

• The Audio Recorder had some unwanted features:
  • Minimal time window on file was 50ms long
  • Trigger was sometimes not stored on the file
• Update to Version 1.21

Version 1.10

Version 1.04

Final Remarks

The program requires a correctly installed and configured soundcard on your Windows computer. In case of problems consult the manual and the frequently asked question.

If you still have a software related problem send mail to C.Zeitnitz