OFF: Audio Generators

[John McIntyre]

Doug Pearson wrote:

>
> >Is it possible to buy one
> >ready made or would you have to build it?
>
> Yes, you can buy audio generators; they're a standard piece of test
> equipment.  Most electronic equipment dealers would carry several models.
> In the UK, try Farnell; in the US, Mouser or Allied.
>
> However, many (all?) modern audio generators have only digital controls,
> with little buttons or switches to set the frequency, and no actual
> frequency *knob*, which makes them useless as musical instruments (in the
> Hawkwind sense).

Not all.  I just checked the Pasco and Sargent - Welch catalogs, and they both
have knobs to control the frequency.   (Sargent - Welch has both coarse and
fine tuning knobs.)  Just to confuse matters, they call them function
generators.

One thing to take into consideration is how the frequency is displayed.  On the
old Pasco function generators, the display was a frequency counter: rotate the
tuning knob to a new frequency and there would be a sometimes quite noticeable
time lag before the display would lock into the new frequency.  With the new
Pasco Digital Function Generator the tuning follows the display, making it much
easier to play in tune.  Of course, we are talking Hawkwind here... (-8

John McIntyre
Physics - Astronomy Domine Dept
Michigan State University
mcintyre at pa.msu.edu