Digilent Analog Discovery 3 announced (June 14 release)

[Howardlong]

The issue with the Picoscope alternative has always been the half assed software. Diligent absolutely crushes them on that. I don't know why both companies are so locked into only working on half of the system each. Picoscope T&M 7 could have been a game changer, but after the eternity it took for a "stable" release it wasn't even stable.

I concur.

I bought a Picoscope 2206B MSO a few months ago as it deals with some of the AD/AD2 hardware shortcomings such as lack of deep memory, limited sample rate and the BNC thing you mentioned.

The Picoscope software is positively primitive compare the Digilent's Waveforms, and the version 7 of Picoscope's software left me with a blank waveform windows on some of my PCs with Intel Iris iGPUs. After a handful of goes using it, the Picoscope's sitting in a drawer now.

To me, it's as if the Picoscope software development team have limited if any EE input: it's tail-wagging-the-dog software.

[egonotto]

Hello,

I can't find a store in Germany where a private person can buy the Analog Discovery 3.

Best regards
egonotto

[guenthert]

Hello,

It would be fine if there were more than two levels of sensitivity.

Best regards
egonotto

Agree..

It still has toy front end, max of only 32kS of memory.  It should be max 200-250 USD retail and 100-120 USD academic.
It is a didactic toy.. No doubt useful but too expensive for what it is...
$379 buys you professional entry level standalone scope these days..

It is clearly meant for the educational market.  It is both more and less than an entry level scope.  It (using the WaveForms software) offers a signal analyzer functionality (up to ~50MHz) with a dynamic range which is much more usable than the 'FFT' (check-mark) functionality of entry level DSOs.  Otoh, I got the impression that the trigger is more dependable on my Rigol 1054Z, so if you're hunting down a fault, you'd prefer that.  If I could keep only one, I'd keep the AD.

[J-R]

Hello,

I can't find a store in Germany where a private person can buy the Analog Discovery 3.

Best regards
egonotto

Can you not order it direct from Digilent or from Digikey?

[egonotto]

Hello,

no Digikey only sells to companies.
If I were to buy from Digilent, I might have to collect the goods from customs. I am not able to do that for health reasons.

Best regards
egonotto

[2N3055]

Hello,

It would be fine if there were more than two levels of sensitivity.

Best regards
egonotto

Agree..

It still has toy front end, max of only 32kS of memory.  It should be max 200-250 USD retail and 100-120 USD academic.
It is a didactic toy.. No doubt useful but too expensive for what it is...
$379 buys you professional entry level standalone scope these days..

It is clearly meant for the educational market.  It is both more and less than an entry level scope.  It (using the WaveForms software) offers a signal analyzer functionality (up to ~50MHz) with a dynamic range which is much more usable than the 'FFT' (check-mark) functionality of entry level DSOs.  Otoh, I got the impression that the trigger is more dependable on my Rigol 1054Z, so if you're hunting down a fault, you'd prefer that.  If I could keep only one, I'd keep the AD.

I agree with your analysis but I would keep the DS1000Z. It is real scope despite its shortcomings.
Before (this price hike up) I was of the opinion that you could combine a small but real scope (DS1000Z, Miscig, SDS1000X-E) and AD2 and have very nice set of capabilities for not too much money....
Of course AD3 is better than no scope, but you can get real scope for that money now...

Ehhh... we are all different, aren't we.... 
Best,

[Fungus]

Hello,

no Digikey only sells to companies.
If I were to buy from Digilent, I might have to collect the goods from customs. I am not able to do that for health reasons.

You can buy them on Farnell, etc.

https://www.newark.com/b/digilent?ost=digilent&rd=digilent

[2N3055]

Hello,

no Digikey only sells to companies.
If I were to buy from Digilent, I might have to collect the goods from customs. I am not able to do that for health reasons.

You can buy them on Farnell, etc.

https://www.newark.com/b/digilent?ost=digilent&rd=digilent

24. Business Customers
The Company is a business to business supplier. The Catalogue and any specialogues and other product brochures produced by the Company are intended for use by business customers and not consumers. By ordering, the Customer confirms that he, she or it wishes to obtain the Supplies for the purposes of his, her or its business and not as a consumer.

[switchabl]

Hello,

no Digikey only sells to companies.
If I were to buy from Digilent, I might have to collect the goods from customs. I am not able to do that for health reasons.

Best regards
egonotto

I haven't had any trouble ordering from Digikey for personal use (Farnell is a different story). They don't have any in stock yet though.

[Fungus]

24. Business Customers
The Company is a business to business supplier. The Catalogue and any specialogues and other product brochures produced by the Company are intended for use by business customers and not consumers. By ordering, the Customer confirms that he, she or it wishes to obtain the Supplies for the purposes of his, her or its business and not as a consumer.

Surely you must know somebody who could order one for you...

[J-R]

Full Digilent distributor list:
https://digilent.com/shop/distributors/
Germany:
https://www.distrelec.de (site is offline currently?)
https://de.farnell.com (already mentioned)
https://www.reichelt.de (has Digilent products for sale, AD3 not listed currently)
https://www.trenz-electronic.de (has it listed for sale, no stock yet: https://shop.trenz-electronic.de/de/33704-Analog-Discovery-3)

[2N3055]

24. Business Customers
The Company is a business to business supplier. The Catalogue and any specialogues and other product brochures produced by the Company are intended for use by business customers and not consumers. By ordering, the Customer confirms that he, she or it wishes to obtain the Supplies for the purposes of his, her or its business and not as a consumer.

Surely you must know somebody who could order one for you...

I am a business customer.... Just saying, for those that are not.....

[Anthocyanina]

but isn't the analog discovery series aimed at students and hobbyists more than businesses? if they sold only to businesses, why would digilent have chosen them as distributors for the AD series? has anyone bought stuff from them as not-a-business?

[Fungus]

but isn't the analog discovery series aimed at students and hobbyists more than businesses? if they sold only to businesses, why would digilent have chosen them as distributors for the AD series? has anyone bought stuff from them as not-a-business?

I think the main target is education.

[J-R]

Zero issues here with ordering direct from Digilent, or any other reseller (Digikey, Mouser, Newark/Avnet/Farnell, etc.).  Based on what I've seen from other threads, issues are primarily due to import taxes/fees/restrictions of the destination country.

Digilent has been great to work with.  I was able to get a student discount, plus stack the additional 10% discount, and to top it off I got free expedited shipping from Taiwan.

[Antonio90]

Germany and Austria can get it from Trenz. They also have good prices, but won't sell academic articles outside of Germany. I guess they don't have a way to verify the status.

Sadly, none of the spanish distributors have educational pricing, AFAIK, and I just got a quote in one of them for well over 500 USD.
I recall getting in touch with National Instruments, which were able to supply the AD2 with academic discount, but I don't know if that is still the case.

I might buy another AD2 second hand. They have implemented a "dual mode" in Waveforms which allows to sync two devices via the trigger lines, and that could make do for a 4-channel scope.

[egonotto]

Hello,

Antonio90: "Germany and Austria can get it from Trenz. They also have good prices, but won't sell academic articles outside of Germany. I guess they don't have a way to verify the status."

They check whether you are enrolled in a university.

Antonio90: "They have implemented a "dual mode" in Waveforms which allows to sync two devices via the trigger lines, and that could make do for a 4-channel scope."

Is this new or the old "Cross Triggering between Devices" with more instances of WaveForms?


Has anyone tried the new LockIn function? I still have problems with it.


Best regards
egonotto

[Fungus]

Sadly, none of the spanish distributors have educational pricing, AFAIK, and I just got a quote in one of them for well over 500 USD.
I recall getting in touch with National Instruments, which were able to supply the AD2 with academic discount, but I don't know if that is still the case.

I got mine direct from NI in Spain. The contact info was listed in the "Buy one" button on the Digilent web site.

[Antonio90]

Sadly, none of the spanish distributors have educational pricing, AFAIK, and I just got a quote in one of them for well over 500 USD.
I recall getting in touch with National Instruments, which were able to supply the AD2 with academic discount, but I don't know if that is still the case.

I got mine direct from NI in Spain. The contact info was listed in the "Buy one" button on the Digilent web site.

Yeah, you actually got a rather good price if I remember correctly. I will contact them asking for a quote.

Hello,

Antonio90: "Germany and Austria can get it from Trenz. They also have good prices, but won't sell academic articles outside of Germany. I guess they don't have a way to verify the status."

They check whether you are enrolled in a university.

Antonio90: "They have implemented a "dual mode" in Waveforms which allows to sync two devices via the trigger lines, and that could make do for a 4-channel scope."

Is this new or the old "Cross Triggering between Devices" with more instances of WaveForms?



Best regards
egonotto

Hi, yes, I meant they probably don't have a way to reliably check with a foreign university, and that's why academic pricing is only offered locally.

As per the dual mode, I think it's based on the same cross triggering, but implemented in a single waveforms instance:

"WaveForms also now introduces Dual mode for all devices. [...] Previously, you had to pull up a second instance of WaveForms, assign the second ADP3450 to that instance, then individually configure the instruments on each device to properly send and receive triggers, all so you could cross compare separate sets of data together afterwards. With dual mode, the hassle is taken away; simply choose your first device, then select your dual second identical device, connect the trigger lines as instructed by WaveForms, and enjoy a unified single view of the two Test and Measurement devices working in tandem."

[egonotto]

Hello,

now i found the new dual mode. It works not with an Analog Discovery and an Analog Discovery 2 only with two Analog Discovery or two Analog Discovery 2 (or two Analog Discovery 3?)
If I have time I will try it.

Digilent held a webinar, "Exploring the Features of the Analog Discovery 3!" on July 11, 2023 at 9:30AM (PT)

Best regards
egonotto

[EEVblog]

Teardown photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eevblog/albums/72177720309434350

[mwb1100]

Any idea what's underneath the long can along the edge of the PCB?  The AD2 doesn't have a similar characteristic.

[egonotto]

Hello,

to the right of the USB C socket, is this a card reader? According to Digilent's picture, there should be a 5 V DC socket here.

Best regards
egonotto

[ataradov]

to the right of the USB C socket, is this a card reader? According to Digilent's picture, there should be a 5 V DC socket here.

It is a shielded power socket. The shield is for mechanical mounting. It appears to be the same exact one as on the AD2.

The shield may be for the clock generator. AD2 also had one, but it was tiny. It was located next to the ADC.

AD3 is also missing audio jack.

[egonotto]

Hello,

two Analog Discovery 3 can synchronize the clock.
And the power supplies are programmable and can be used as a waveform generator with at least 2,5 Hz.

Best regards
egonotto