Cheap (Or Free) Signal Generator Advice?

[iandy4]

Hi Guys,
I got my hands on a tektronix oscilloscope a while back but I haven't been using it much.  I now have several circuits I'd like to test, some balanced and some unbalanced, and I need a sine wave to put through the circuits.  I don't know how accurate my oscilloscope is so I figured it would be pretty important to have a decent signal generator for testing my various circuits and to confirm that my oscilloscope is working or needs calibrated.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[jazbo8]

http://www.infinitespectra.com/index.html Try the SG One. Free if you have a PC with a soundcard 

Jaz

[Gurner]

I think nowadays, if I were in the market for a cheap of free signal generator, I'd be llooking for a smartphone app, eg...

http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/media_and_video/soundform-signal-generator_gxbc.html

...the phone manafacturer has already graciously provided the siggen chassis, knobs & buttons (via a touchscreen), audio hw & power supply ....it just needs someone, somewhere to wire them all together via software in the order that a signal generator needs!

[slacker]

Audacity a free audio editor can generate sine waves, noise, frequency sweeps and a whole bunch of other stuff. It won't help with calibrating your scope but for testing circuits it should do what you want.

[EATyourGuitar]

the getlofi 555 is the simplest function generator. with a small signal transformer you can get the impedance a little more real world for guitar pedals. I use solid wire and a board mounted pot so I can plug it into the breadboard.

[defaced]

Hi Guys,
I got my hands on a tektronix oscilloscope a while back but I haven't been using it much.  I now have several circuits I'd like to test, some balanced and some unbalanced, and I need a sine wave to put through the circuits.  I don't know how accurate my oscilloscope is so I figured it would be pretty important to have a decent signal generator for testing my various circuits and to confirm that my oscilloscope is working or needs calibrated.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Which scope?  The service manuals for the scopes I have go through the calibration procedure.  Also, alot of them have a built in signal generator (the 465 I have has a 3oomv 1kHz square wave) for basic stuff. 

[iandy4]

Thanks for the tips guys.  I downloaded audacity and it works just fine for my current needs.

[petemoore]

  Find the cheapest doodad with an output jack, something like a toy keyboard, provide PS and then tape 1 or more of the keys down, good strong output signal with piano/guitar/organ 'type' waves can be had for next to nothin.

[Steve Mavronis]

This free Soundcard Scope (http://www.zeitnitz.de/Christian/scope_en) includes a signal generator.

The oscilloscope contains in addition a signal generator for 2 channels for Sine, Square, Triangular and Sawtooth wave forms in the frequency range from 0 to 20kHz.