Hi Dave, I got the AD3 last week. I'm really impressed with it. Was just about to plug it in the measure the output of a HP8011A pulse generator that was just delivered from eBay. A bit pricy buy recommended. Waveforms is the icing on the cake. Oh, and I also got the transistor curve tracer thingy that I was playing with over the 4th July weekend. The Waverforms tracer app takes some getting used to but does as advertised.
The breakout BNC board extends the oscilloscope from 9 MHz to 30 MHz and the waveform generator from 9 MHz to 12 MHz. As an amateur radio operator the extension to cover the whole HF band is a big gain for $20.
Update: I bought the analog discovery 3 and I freaking love it! Its really versatile, you can do QUITE a bit with it. A little bit later on, I reached out to digilent and told them that I needed some oscilloscopes for my colleges hackerspace, and they decided to donate 2 of them to me for the hackerspace at my college! Got em in the mail, one pro pack and one student pack. I'm in love with them!
I still have the original Digilent Analog Discovery v1 and I bought it after it was reviewed on this channel. Its a bit dated now, but still does the job. I'd be keen for a v3. Keep up the great work Digilent.
The Picoscope 2205A / 2205A MSO are also worth considering in this price range. Their new software is pretty schmick too. I won't touch NI these days because I have PTSD from using LabView, but loving the Picoscope 5000 series which uses the same software as to 2000 series.
"PTSD from using LabView" That is so real, haha. I haven't even used labview that much, but I shudder from the thought of having to connect any more blocks together.
I think the picoscope software is quiet amazing. Most people would expect some quirky ui for a usb scope, but its actually really well laid out and has pretty much everything youd need. I love working with the picoscope software.c Also the 2205A is really a bang for the buck. Alsoo... Same for labview. Had it as a module in school and its such a terrible piece of software.
@@aronhighgrove4100 Yeah, Picoscope is at least twice the cost of a bench scope for the same capabilities. But the advantages are worth it for some people. Just as an example, anything under 100MHz is useless to me and the cheapest Picoscope with that bandwidth and only 8 bits of resolution is $800, you can get a good Siglent with more features for half that.
this was cool, but it seemed more like a review of waveforms(which once you get to know it, it becomes super intuitive and comfortable to use, to me, the best usb scope software). pretty much all the same things can be done with the AD2, but of course, within the limits of the hardware. it would be really cool to see a direct comparison between the AD2 and AD3, in things like waveform update rate(they have trigger outputs), noise level differences, since the AD3 has an updated frontend, changes in the spectrum analyzer mode, bode plot(is it faster, can it provide more accurate phase readings at very low amplitudes because of a potentially lower noise floor?) check the impedance analyzer perhaps? with front end changes it might get more accurate results too? I won a giveaway last year for the AD2, and for my small projects, and school labs, it has become my most used instrument, and i like it enough that, if the AD3 is a good enough upgrade, i would like to save to eventually be able to buy one, but beyond on-paper specs, there isn't any comparison between the two anywhere so far. thanks dave.
I have an analog discovery 2, bought just after my first FPGA board thanks to a Digilent advertising. It changed my life. I showed it in my compagny, we bought one, then two, then 8 more (AD3 as it was released in between). Note that we have several 40k$ + benchtop scopes. It is INSANE !
We used the AD1 and AD2 in school and it was awesome. We had to do all our labwork with benchtop equipment and using the portable AD / handheld DMM. I got the student discount. If you live near a school you can get a used one from a student for cheap. I still recommend it to any hobbyist starting out because it can do almost anything you would need to do for just beginning. Once you know what you like to do you can upgrade to a better scope, add another power supply, get a benchtop dmm, whatever. I use mine frequently even though I have a full lab downstairs because it's easy to use and very handy to set stuff up quickly and is more than enough to do the work that I do most often.
While my school used all traditional lab equipment, I now have an AD2 sitting right next to all the "real" test equipment at work. It get's used all the time for tasks that it can just do better than equipment costing 25 times as much. I wouldn't want to use a PC scope as my daily driver, but in a world where the brand name scopes still charge you $1500 for a serial decode option this just puts them all to shame. The ability to tie the instruments together to make an integrated test or cross-trigger is invaluable. I've also found the scripting via the waveforms Python API is really useful.
14:27 the difference in memory is actually because you trade where it's allocated. You can see that the lower scope depths mean higher logic depths + pattern depths and whatnot
I got one day 1 (got the student discount so only $250), the only issues I've run into so far have been a slightly flaky usb connection and the BNC inputs are too high capacitance for me to fully compensate with my probes x10 mode.
This looks more like 'mid' refresh like they have on cars. While the new stuff looks nice, they could have benefited a lot more. Firstly BW to 25Mhz should not be hard, also sampling memory (and that would make USB3 actually viable). Edit: Oof, no USB PD... They could just add a cheap ARM cpu to drive a decent web interface with all the bells and whistles. Finally my gripe. You cant pay this much for essential software. Imagine you give this to some kid 10 years from now, whats the odds the software will still work or being supported?
In the future: I cannot run my Tek 465e, because I dont have an active monthly subscription. Also, support will stop in 1 month. Activation servers will be retired in 2 years.
yeah, it does feel like just an incremental update of the AD2, it can do i think around 30MHz oscilloscope bandwidth with the BNC adapter. I don't know well the story of waveforms live, the software they wrote for their openscope and openlogger, but the product died, and the waveforms live software was open-sourced, not sure if it was open source at the start, or if they released the source once the products were discontinued, but i would hope, and think it likely, if national instruments closes digilent, that they would release the source for waveforms as well
This looks like something that would fit nicely in a travel case. 🥳 Another great learning and circuit design tool is LTspice; Analog Devices which is Free. 😎 Great video, Thanks.
We have at one point considered the Analog Discovery for our courses, but it is too expensive for us, and the necessity of dedicated software makes it's long-term usability a bit doubtful, as compared to a regular function generator + oscilloscope. Also: out students have enough problems finding the correct frequency range button on the front of a function generator... how should they find their way through these infinite possibilities, which you explored during the video?
Oh, I used the Analog Discovery since the first realice was on ghe market, the Software Developer is awesome, when you write down description about new future, you could reach reaction, and discusion how you think ot should work. I ask about some nice future to depend signal aplitude over the frequency for the generator. It possible now to measure frequency responce of the DC/DC, low voltage stabilizer for smal price.
I recall many many years ago, I played with some software that allowed my pc sound card to act as a scope. It was limited to the input frequency limitations of the audio input of the sound card. I think this software and idea preceded the very low cost single board scopes which became widely available. I suppose it was only useful for early educational purposes, eliminating the need to buy a scope for some simple demonstrations.
The logic part of the SW was certainly not a killer compared to Saleae's, at least when v2 came out. But I still use my v1 for low-freq. waveforms from time to time (also on v1 of Saleae's, so no analog in that)
I use the AD2 for work some. Saleae is better all day for software. The issue is the AD2 hardware is cheaper and has significantly more functionality. If you can only have one, Analog Discovery is great, but I always end up reaching for my saleae for digital comms.
you should have check how much it saturates that USB2 bandwidth, to get an idea on the extent you can stack measurements or if your choking with USB2 (year 2000 std.) bandwidth limits.. a shame they didnt implemented some modern standards.. USB3 TypeC datainterface and added ext. power with a TypeC PD connection.
It is not really important, but there was a super bt878 (tv decoder) (fusion 878A) chip that had a 2M sample rate at 16 bit if you modded the linux kernel (or module is easier). For some reason they built that into the audio sampler, not the video sampler, and that datasheet says it can be used for 'other applications'. So I guess the idea is if you use a digital audio sampler upstream you get a high bandwidth ADC unused. So I guess you could turn that into a 1M sampler, but there is no front end, so the headroom is whatever voltage as it was. I modded a card I have here, but never used it for anything. I think the input was on the audio pin of the 878. Think it was covered by the alsa 878 driver.
i have been browsing about dev board and found out there are models of spartan 7 i know the xc7s50 is better then xc7s25 in terms of cells but are there anymore difference？
Remember looking at the previous version and feeling it was overpriced for the performance plus the software looked a bit iffy. Buy a Picoscope for less but with a greater bandwidth...
It's an amazing scope, definitely. But despite the awesome hardware, I feel the digital section is a joke. (Yes, I know, it's the _analog_ discovery after all, but still) Having worked with Saleae Logic 2 once and you can never go back to any other LA imo. The software is just way too good. I waveform, I can't even capture a long-ish trace without the fear of immediately losing it. Let alone come close to the interactivity and visibility of the Saleae software.
I'd love for someone to implement a proper streaming mode for the AD. Maybe with a more capable (digital) UI like PulseView. The hardware would be capable...
There's a certain amount of hilarity in the "designed in Romania" thing considering nobody in their right mind could afford this overe here, or would choose it over a set of far cheaper and in some ways more capable simple tools. DEFINITELY not a hobbyist grade tool in these parts of the world, where you rather make do with a Microchip Snap than live on Ramen for a month to buy a goddamned gold-plated Pickit.
Didn't we all have to by a lab-kit... you know... a plastic tool box, with resistors, caps, ICs, and a breadboard. Cost like 100.00 for 20.00 worth of parts. (wan't much compared to tuition... and you had to have it.) Welcome to 2023... and the A.D. 3... about the same percentage of E.E. tuition, as the old lab-kit... and you have to have it.
We used the discovery 2 in my college classes, it was a great kit when you weren't in the lab with the real gear. I think the saleae is still much better than this at protocol decoding though, although that one is digital
@EEVblog - Press F1 to switch to the Help tab and locate info about the currently focused control. - The Filter channels can be configured after pressing the green arrow "more channels" under Channel 2 in Scope. - With the default “USB Power” “Stop with AUX” option, removing AUX will reset the device. With the "Always ON" option, the device does not restart and indicates the USB voltage after disconnecting the AUX due to the minimal back-power of the AUX eFuse. - Thank you for the review and noticing the "C4" typo in Wavegen/Type.
The AD2 is an awesome device. I often fall back to it because the software is so powerful. Where is my MSO5000 is limited by software to not compete with the higher end models, the AD stuff seems to be a true engineers project, what all can we do with what we have. Sure wish Waveforms would work with my the Rigol.
You mentioned it's Made in China at 6:20. However, a distributer decalsres it as being made in Taiwan (Country of Origin). Did you see such a "Made in China" statement or you just assumed it? Cheers 😁
I guess as NI seem to be pricing themselves out of the education space (we're trying to work out what to replace several hundred MyRIO devices with once our license comes up for renewal) we might see a lot more of these in schools and universities.
I’m responsible for 3 analog discovery 2 purchases simply because that’s what they had us use at school. 1 for person use, and one at each company I worked at after school
That is very cool. I think it would be nice for exploring synthesizers and hybrid analog computers. I might have to pick one up. I think I have an old one of the original Analog Discovery around here somewhere, but it’s software seemed limited, so I never used it much.
@@jahjahhhh I love it! Most commonly using it as a scope and function generator. My only “I wish” moments have been pretty unreasonable things like I wanted to export the scope plot data as a .csv file and stuff like that
Sorry, but have to say I have the Analog Discovery 2 and the Waveforms software I think is quite horrible. Admittedly, I use it mainly for logic analyzer function and I much prefer the SigRok style interface. Keen to see if they have increased the memory depth. The AD2 had a max of 16K which is really small so I am keen to learn if the AD3 is more generous
@EEVblog At my college, we had NI Elvis which more or less does the same thing but for 10 times the price ! Since it was so expensive, it was locked down to certain lab. This was an issue because these labs would be quite in high demand at some times. Having a digilent discovery per student would have been really nice !
I just missed buying a pallet (50-75) of Elvis' from a local college. The whole pallet went for $75. I usually check auctions every day and the one day I did not..............UGH!!
I just love when people explain away the exorbitant price with 'the value is in the software'. The development cost of software is the same if you sell 1 unit or 1 million units. So no, that is not what determines the price in the end. Oh sure they will want to recuperate the cost of said software through the sales, that is a given. But the price determination is done by a bunch of number crunchers who just sit there and decide how high they can make the price for it to still sell.
I just got a Rigol DS1054Z (my first real oscilloscope! Woot! Now if only I had even a tiny inkling of how to use the damn thing....I don't even know where to start!) like two weeks ago and I've had this Chinese clone of a 16-channel signal analyzer for years now and yeah, those are two entirely different kinds of tools for entirely different needs. With the signal analyzer I can easily capture and decode the signal from like 50 different protocols with just a few clicks of the mouse, easily being able to really see what is happening at a protocol level -- the scope only has support for three protocols, I think, and it's nowhere near as friendly as a good, mouse-driven UI for such. The signal analyzer is entirely useless for any analog probing, though.
C# is a programming language. I did a quick search and it looks like there's a " WaveForms SDK" .. assuming you can write your own plugging to make custom WaveForms.
I have the older AD2 and it is PERFECT for me as someone who tinkers with arduinos and raspberry pi's from time to time. Having a computer based GUI and the small footprint are great for me.
