Troubleshooting Compressor / Cheap Sine Wave Generator?

Hi,

This has no doubt been asked before, but I'm coming back to DIY audio after about 10 years away and having trouble drinking from the firehose again

I'm trying to test an old SSL compressor clone that I built "back in the day",  I've got an old oscilloscope but I no longer own any other studio gear to input a signal to it so I'm trying to figure out the best way to test it.

Has anyone has any experience with cheap "sine wave generator" kits on ebay/amazon (like this one) as an input signal?

In terms of my approach I'm intending to input the sine wave into the XLR input jacks (not sure yet how I'd connect these units to an XLR out) and then try to trace the signal through the unit using the scope. I'm not sure whether the "cheap wave generator" is the best approach (could I damage my laptop if I used that instead?), any guidance on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Adam

You are not an Audio Tech without a trustworthy signal generator.

That cheap-chip sig gen is the XR chip. Been around 40? years. Does the job. The Sine has a glitch on it. You will learn its shape after staring at the 'scope a bit. It is mildly useful in that if the glitch is smoothed, you know you have a high-cut in the path being tested. The glitch grates on the ear after you know what a pure sine sounds like. Sure, I would use that. The only "??" is that the XR chip is AFAIK out of production and price "should" be about they ask for the whole kit. But maybe they are sitting on a crate full.

There is a new generation of digitally generated tone sources in the $40 range. These also appear to be fine.

Laptop may work for your use but I really hate to expose a $400-$1000 machine to unexpected damage when a $10-$100 machine exists and is really more suited.

Good thing we have the chinese - if it's useful and can be made cheaply, they'll have it:

XR2206: http://www.banggood.com/XR2206-Function-Signal-Generator-DIY-Kit-Sine-Triangle-Square-Output-1HZ-1MHZ-p-1060825.html

ICL8038: http://www.banggood.com/ICL8038-5-12V-DC-Low-frequency-Signal-Source-Generator-Module-Sine-Square-Triangle-Wave-p-1086923.html

Jakob E.

For basic works or doesn't work troubleshooting, any audio source will do. To perform more advanced trouble shooting like looking for distortion you need a clean sine wave sorce. Finally for most advanced troubleshooting like attack/release time constants you need a tone burst generator.

Most of these are probably available as digital sound files, while i wouldn't know being old school.

JR

Hello all,

I have assembled a CAPI FC526 and am about to start on Volker's LA2A.
I am not fluent in electronics  and the calibration instructions for these are a bit confusing.
Can I use the XR2206 chip kits to generate the signal for calibration or am I better off using Pro Tools (or something else)?

Thanks
Mac