Soundcard

Duplicate/Redundant Content See also Soundcard Oscilloscope and Software Oscilloscope

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The Chinch connectors on the THAT have line level

Several line levels for illustration.

The Analog Thing has line level outputs which are suitable for using Digital computer soundcards for data aquisition (conversion to digital). This allows to use digital computers as Software oscilloscopes.

The general picture works as follows: The Analog thing works with an analog logic level of ±10V. However, the board has a number of chinch outputs which have a voltage divider to provide a logic level of ±1V. This is compatible with Audio Line Levels. These connectors are bidirectional, so a soundcard output can be used to feed in analog data to the Analog Thing.

In order to use the soundcard as a data capture device, a software oscilloscope is required for visualization.

Other usages of creative coding with soundcards are possible. These codes should be collected here.

Limitations

3.5mm combi jack connector example

On combi sockets, you probably need a splitting cable

• Many soundcards only provide combi jack connectors. They typically have stereo output but mono microphone level input. Therefore, they are only suitable for single channel data aquisition. You should try to get a soundcard which has line level input, which is typically stereo and also line but not microphone level.
• Soundcards are known to have a highpass filter, so they filter out DC components. This means they are not suited for measuring static signals. They also do many kind of signal processing, and different devices will differ. Their usability for analog computing highly depends, and in the following a number of soundcards shall be enlisted:

List of known or tested soundcards

None yet, but here is a list of candidate soundcards:

• 8€ cheap mono device – Sabrent USB External Stereo Sound – https://www.amazon.de/Sabrent-Soundkarte-External-erforderlich-AU-MMSA/dp/B00IRVQ0F8/
• Fun Generation UA-202, around 20€ https://www.thomann.de/de/fun_generation_ua_202.htm
• LogiLink Soundkarte UA009, around 20€ https://www.bueromarkt-ag.de/soundkarte_logilink_ua0099_usb_sound_box_7.1,p-ua0099,l-google-css,pd-b2c.html?
• Behringer U-Control UFO202 USB Audio, around 25€ https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Behringer-U-Control-UFO202-Interface-Digitisation/dp/B096RTMS3T/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=USB%2Bstereo%2Binput&qid=1626208266&s=computers&sr=1-4&th=1