Audio Signal Generator on eBay

[DreadPirate]

Is this my best bet for an under $100 function generator?

REK RAG101 Audio Generator Function Signal 10 to 1Mhz - eBay (item 300371534115 end time Dec-26-09 21:26:52 PST)

For a current project, all I need is a 1000 Hz sinusoidal signal are there any cheap/free alternatives out there that might work for me? Should I just spring for one of these to play with? What do I do about the 220V supply required (I'm in the US)?

 

[Speedskater]

The free alternate is:
Burn a CD with test tones (tones are available from lot's of web-sites) play it back using a player that has a volume control.

 

[slam]

You can also use your mp3 player or cell phone with the test tones Seedskater mentioned if low THD is not a major concern. Some cell phones are actually not that bad nowadays. The headphone output of HTC Touch Pro 2 has a THD+N of 0.034% @ 1KHz last time I measured.

If potability is not a concern, you can always use PC + free signal generator programs if you have good quality sound cards.

However you will need amplification in either case if you need higher voltage output.

 

[rotaspec]

Nice little tone gen program here:

Tone Generator Software - Audio Test Tone Generator Download

 

[Rob11966]

Hi Dread Pirate,

If you want hours of pointless fun you could make your own.

Here is a thread on the one that I built -

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/equipment-tools/153969-diy-8038-function-generator-problem.html

It eventually worked well.

Cheers,

Rob

 

[DreadPirate]

Pointless fun is what it's all about, but that looks like work. I'm going to try the cd tone route for now, perhaps move on as the need arises.

 

[Nikon1975]

I am aslo looking for a general purpose function generator, for audio mainly, but I think higher frequency could be useful for components testing.
I cannot decide if I should take some toy like this:

Digital Function Signal Generator 5 digit 0.2Hz-2MHz ap - eBay (item 280431888649 end time Dec-30-09 22:49:42 PST)

Or get a used old fashion professional generator (the ones without display)

Please advice. Thanks,

Davide

 

[MikeHunt79]

old 2nd hand synths can make nice sig gens also.

 

[tvrgeek]

After frustrations with PC based sweep generators, I bought an old HP 209A. It can sweep cleanly. Everything else I use my PC. I capture the tones into files. Normalize them, clean up the start and stop, leaving me a library of known exact amplitude signals.
nti, multi-sine and sig-jenny all freeware.