Rigol 1054z LOWEST sample rate - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2015, 06:39:44 pm
content: Anyone know what the sample rate range is? I know the upper end is 1G/s, but I do mostly audio, and I'm more interested in slow rates that can record for a LONG time...40k/s or even lower. I can't seem to find that number in any spec. I'm wondering if someone with the scope can take a peak and let me know if there's some lower limit.Thanks!

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2015, 07:04:56 pm
content: The lowest sample rate I could achieve was 20 Sa/s.50 s/div time base and 12 k pts record length.I would have thought that slowest time base would be a more useful metric, though. 20 Sa/s isn't much use for audio frequencies.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2015, 08:13:18 pm
content: Well, I know they all have a time base much slower than I actually need. I was more interested in figuring out how long I could record for at, say, a 10kHz bandwidth. Sounds like it's not a problem to set it for whatever I need. I'm hunting down a gremlin, and it's time for a digital scope now that I can get an intensity graded display very cheaply.I've stubbornly stuck with an analog scope for audio because it was just way more useful, but these new displays pretty much erase the last little advantage that the analog scopes have, IMHO.Basically, what I want to be able to do is record, play the guitar for a few seconds, and then stop recording when I hear the gremlin...and then I can go in at me leisure and see just what the hell is going on. At something like 20kS/s, and 12M points, I can record WAY more than I'd ever need, so I'm happy.Thanks so much for looking that up for me!!

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2015, 08:35:37 pm
content: Quote from: John Coloccia on May 29, 2015, 08:13:18 pmVery true - the Tek MDO3000 has a setting of 1ks/div, or nearly 3 hours per trace, which is getting silly.QuoteIndeed. I'm keeping my ancient Tek 465B on the bench because it's a thing of beauty, but to be honest it's an anachronism.QuoteNo worries.

author: electr_peter
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 29, 2015, 09:05:23 pm
content: I think oscilloscope is not a very well suited for such task. Just get a high sample rate recorder (22/44/48/96/192 kHz sample rate, whatever you like and can get), plug in your sound signal directly so microphones do not not come into play, record everything and use myriad of available programs to analyse the signal. Plus you get essentially unlimited sample memory.DSO is not very well suited for such long and slow signals - you will get bored pretty soon. Also, one wrong move or button press on oscilloscope and your precious sample is gone.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2015, 09:28:02 pm
content: I don't JUST use it for this, though even if I did I need to be able to probe around and still see things in real-time, get real voltages, etc, hence why so many guys doing analog work have stuck with analog scopes.It's amazingly difficult to see analog signals without some sort of intensity graded display. Oh, if you just stick a sine wave in there, everything's great, but real signals have all sorts of mess in them, multiple and varying frequencies, heterodyning, phase shifting, transients, etc. It makes an unintelligible mess on traditional digital displays.

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2015, 09:56:21 pm
content: Quote from: electr_peter on May 29, 2015, 09:05:23 pmOr even a PC's soundcard might work depending on the gremlin the OP's looking for.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2015, 05:29:07 pm
content: Whoo Hoo...new scope on the way.Honestly, I've been surrounded by so much equipment my entire career that it's really rare something gets me excited, but for some reason I'm really looking forward to unboxing this thing and putting it to work! Maybe the excitement comes from finally unloading this boat anchor of an analog scope that's sitting under my bench. Until I switched back to analog, I'd forgotten just how spoiled I'd become using digital scopes, and how limiting old scopes could be.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 09:28:56 am
content: Well, it came today. OK, this is no Agilent or Tek scope...it's definitely got it's quirks. The interface can be annoyingly unresponsive, and the interface has some seriously stupid quirks to it. Rule #1 of interface design: ALWAYS give me a way to back out of what I'm doing. I hate that I have to dig through menus looking for the back button...how stupid can you get? I hate that when I want to turn off a measurement function, I have to go to the measurement menu. I can turn it on from the measurement function keys on the left. Why on earth can't I hit the key again to turn that function off?? Instead of telling me it's already on, TURN IT OFF. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. There are more little annoyances, and it's a little frustrating because the vast majority could be fixed in the firmware.That said, this is a NICE scope where it counts. I can't believe I paid under $400, and with free shipping too. The display is actually nicer than any Tek or Agilent I've ever used, though I've not used the newer intensity graded displays on those scopes. The stock amount of memory is ridiculously large. Yes, I "hacked" it too, and now it's even more ridiculous...does anyone believe Rigol is upset about a little bit of cheating? LOL...they're crying all the way to the bank. Even the probes are decent. Not great, but definitely decent and usable.I wish I'd gotten on the bandwagon sooner with the rest of you guys instead of waiting so long.

author: alsetalokin4017
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 02:40:57 pm
content: Congrats on the new scope! But I just seem to have found a Big Bug that causes the scope to freeze up totally (while still showing a live waveform trace) and become non-responsive to any input. Talk about "annoyingly unresponsive" !!This should never happen, no user input should be able to cause a scope to freeze like that and require a reboot. Please check the thread I opened:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/rigol-ds1054z-freeze-up-bug/I'm still trying to determine if all the DS1054Z scopes act this way. At least one other person has been able to reproduce this freeze-bug and I'm trying to narrow down the conditions that cause it. It seems to happen when the main timebase is set to 10 microseconds/div and faster.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 04:12:04 pm
content: I've been following that thread. I'll be interested to see what comes of it. I'm sure Rigol will fix it once they figure out what's going on. Thing is, I'm pretty accustomed to working with some seriously expensive equipment, far more expensive than the typical scope, and bugs in the software are not uncommon. It's even MORE common in higher end equipment that doesn't get so much distribution and sales. I'll keeping an eye out and trying to avoid it, but it's not worrying me that much right now.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 08:59:56 pm
content: And just found my gremlin too. Not bad for it's first day on the job.Turns out that it wouldn't have been too difficult to find with an analog scope (an old HP 1740A), save for the fact that it's so damn big I don't have anywhere to set it up anymore.

author: Muxr
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2015, 11:09:26 pm
content: Nice. On the topic of Rigol's UI responsiveness. It can get pretty annoying at times. As far as the UI navigation goes, it gets better the more you use it though. It sort of starts feeling better once you learn your way around the menus. Can't complain for the price, even for my DS2000, does what I need it to do. Hackability is what won me over personally, but my next scope will probably be an MDO.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2015, 01:40:24 am
content: You know, considering the size and limited buttons, I actually think the menus are laid out pretty well. Again, there are a few little quirks and some things I would have done differently but nothing too terrible.

author: Muxr
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2015, 01:56:42 am
content: Quote from: John Coloccia on June 04, 2015, 01:40:24 amYeah it's not too bad. There are some weird choices though. Like when I first started using it I couldn't figure out how to display peak to peak for the life of me. It's not on the first measurement menu on the left. And the bottom navigation buttons don't take you to the second menu which would have been an obvious choice, instead you have to hit the top menu twice to get to the second list of measurements which have peak to peak.Also the intensity grading dial which is used for a lot of menu selection on the right as well is very sensitive, so often time when you press the encoder to enable the selected the option it changes your selection right before it enables it, that's probably the biggest pet peeve with the controls, since other stuff you kind of get used to. But it could have been worse.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2015, 02:28:19 am
content: To be honest, I've run into similar problems on far more expensive products that use push button encoders. That particular knob should either have had detents, or it shouldn't have been made push button, IMHO. That said, there's a certain technique to using them that you kind of develop over time. You sort of hold it with your thumb on the tip of the knob, and a finger on top, also resting against the scope. That locks the knob from turning while you push it. I don't think I've screwed up a selection yet, and honestly I didn't really even think about it until I started reading a bunch of posts on the subject. Par for the course on new equipment, I'm afraid, but a little more frustrating on this scope because it's so sluggish.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2015, 04:50:22 am
content: Quote from: John Coloccia on June 04, 2015, 02:28:19 amIt should be easy enough to fix this in the firmware: If a button push is detected, ignore/revert any encoder steps that were registered immediately (x milliseconds) before that. That should ensure that any unintended micro-movements of the encoder, caused by pushing the button, get ignored. But I am not holding my breath for Rigol to implement this... As you said, handling the knob the right way is OK as a workaround.