USB Soundcard To Digital Storage Oscilloscope

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Main homepage epanorama May 8, 2012 Circuits by Tomi, Computers, diy, Electronics Design, Hardware hacks 44
I bought USB Virtual 7.1 Channel External Sound Card Adapter to build a cheap PC based digital storage oscilloscope. Sound card based
oscilloscope is not new to me, I have used it sometimes. There are many free oscilloscope software that you can use. For example
© 2018 ePanorama.net.
“zeitnitz” is a very fine program!
Using an external USB sound card instead of one built onto computer has several benefits: you don’t have to disturb normal PC sound
operations with your measurements and mistakes do not break your mains sound card. USB based sound cards are cheap, and some can
even be modified a DC measurements capable measuring instrument.
The product I selected for my project is USB Virtual 7.1 Channel External Sound Card Adapter. It is based CM119 USB soundcard IC
according to product comments. It seems to be good device, cheap ($3.70) and plug-and-play – easy to use. No extra drivers needed in
Windows (should work well on Linux according to comments but I have not tried that myself).
http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2012/05/08/usb-soundcard-to-digital-storage-oscilloscope/ 1/24
The CM119 IC has, unlike most other sound card controller ICs, no digital highpass inside, which means that it can measure also DC, if
the input capacitor is removed. So after modification the device should works on your computer with a bandwidth of DC to 15kHz, which is
enough for many purposes of DIY electronics. The capacitor can be pretty easily found on circuit board when you know what you are
looking for. On my device that capacitor is market with symbol C6 and one end of the capacitor measures low resistance to the mic input
3.5 mm connector tip.
A closer look at my modification. I just soldered a wire that short circuits C6. The SMD components on the circuit board are quite small, so
the wire looks quite thick on the picture and it is hard to make a nice looking solder joint. Even if this does not look very good it works well.
I measured that the mic input is by default designed to take around 100 mV AC signal for full output. That’s OK for many uses (use
attenuator if you want higher range).
Some modifications and additions needs to be done besides short circuiting C6 to make this USB sound card to be useful DC capable
measuring instrument. First the sound card mic input has bias current feed (designed for electret mic powering) that is approximately 4.3V
fed through around 4.7 kohm resistor.
The DC potential on the CM119 mic in should be around 2-2.2V DC range for everything to work well. So if I just short circuit capacitor C6,
when there is nothing connected to input the voltage CM119 mic in is over the top of the operating range, and when 0V is connected to
input it is below lower range.
So what we need is a circuit that would scale the around +-100 mV DC input at around 0V to voltage in around 2-2.2V DC range on
soundcard microphone input, preferably with some form of DC bias adjustment.
There are many design for such DC shifting circuits, but many of them need somewhat complicated external powering (dual polarity DC
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My design consists of one PNP transistor (BC559), one resistor and one potentiometer (10 kohms). Here is my initial design drawing:
Here is what my initial test prototype looked like. This was designed to be connected between RCA-3.5mm plug cable (red plug) that goes
to USB sound card and normal oscilloscope probe (1:1 probe with black BNC connector connected to BNC-RCA adapter).
Here is a clearer schematic of my DC in adapter drawn with Circuitlab (NOTE: I used BC557 transistor but this editor did not know that so I
had to substitute it with something that exist on it, closest to that I could find on the included library was 2N3906).
The benefit of this design is that the circuit is very simple and still works well. The downside of this design is that R1 controls both the DC
polarity and circuit gain/attenuation. So if you adjust DC with R1 at the same time you change the sensitivity (if you are at normal operation
range the change to gain is not very much). Anyways the circuit is simple, cheap, works OK and does not need any external power to
operate. The input impedance is around 120 kohms. The circuit accepts signal levels to around two volts as it is. If you want higher input
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Now you have one channel analogue computer interface with a bandwidth from DC to around 15kHz at 16 bit input ADC resolution. This is
enough for many purposes of DIY electronics. The “Zeitnitz” tool also adds a two channel signal generator and FFT function!
Great for DIY purposes.
44 Comments
Simon Klein says: June 21, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Hi,
I just bought a usb soundcard with the same housing from ebay.com, opened it up and found out that the pcb layout
looks quite different. There unfortunately are no pcb-markings, so there is no “C6″. So i measured each capacitor and
found that there is one that as you said “measures low resistance to the mic input 3.5 mm connector tip” (in fact its
zero resistance). I then soldered a wire-bridge to both ends of that capacitor to short circuit it, opened zelscope and
saw just some very low noise around the zero-voltage-line. When i plug in a microphone into the soundcard it doesnt
respond to it anymore. Short circuiting both electrodes of the microphone connector leads to a short maximum peak in
zelscope. Am i missing something here? I unsoldered the wire bridge afterwards again to set the card into its original
state (works as before now).
Regards
Reply
tomi says: June 24, 2012 at 6:35 pm
When you have done the DC modification for the sound card it does not work anymore with
normal mics.
The reason is that the DC potential with mic can vary from mic to mic, and it pretty impropable
that the DC potantial with mic falls within the range that the IC input accepts properly.
When you do the DC modification, the soundcard works only with the DC input adapter I showed
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the article. Ok
If you want to be able to use both options, you can always solder a switch instead of direct wires.
It allows you to select between normal souncard input and DC capable oscilloscope input modes
as you need.
Reply
Tomi Engdahl says: June 28, 2012 at 10:45 am
Fundamentals of USB Audio

http://www.edn.com/design/consumer/4376143/Fundamentals-of-USB-Audio?cid=Newsletter+-
+EDN+on+Consumer+Electronics
In this article we will look into USB Audio: a standard for digital audio used in PCs, smart phones and tablets to
interface with audio peripherals such as speakers, microphones, or mixing desks. In this article we set out to show how
USB Audio works, what to watch out for, and how to use USB Audio for high-fidelity multi-channel input and output.
USB Audio uses isochronous, interrupt and control transfers. All audio data is transferred over isochronous transfers;
interrupt transfers are used to relay information regarding the availability of audio clocks; control transfers are used
used to set volume, request sample rates, etc.
Isochronous transfers are used to transfer data in real-time between host and device. When an isochronous endpoint
is set up by the host, the host allocates a specific amount of bandwidth to the isochronous endpoint, and it regularly
performs an IN- or OUT-transfer on that endpoint.
When using CD rates, such as 44,100 Hz, the transfer rate works out as 44.1 transfers per second. In USB Audio each
transfer always carries a whole number of samples; alternating transfers carry 48 and 40 bytes (6 and 5 stereo
samples), so that the average rate works out as 44.1 bytes per transfer.
A single isochronous transfer can carry 1024 bytes, and can carry at most 256 samples (at 24/32 bits). This means
that a single isochronous endpoint can transfer 42 channels at 48 kHz, or 10 channels at 192 kHz (assuming that High
Speed USB is used – Full Speed USB cannot carry more than a single stereo IN and OUT pair at 48 kHz).
When transmitting digital audio, latency is introduced. In the case of High Speed USB this latency is 250 us. A packet
of data is transferred once in every 125 us window, but given that it may be sent anytime in this window a 250 us buffer
is required. On top of this 250 us delay, extra delay may be incurred in the O/S driver, and in the CODEC. Note that
Full Speed USB has a much higher intrinsic latency of 2 ms, as data is only sent once in every 1 ms window.
The big issue in digital audio is to agree on a common notion of time. Above we have defined USB frames to be
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work if the speaker and the host agree on the length of a second. USB Audio offers three modes that ensure that the
host and the speaker agree on timings
there are at least two separate clocks in the system, the USB clock with a host driven frequency of 8,000 transfers per
second, and a sample clock with an externally driven sample rate of, for example, 96,000 Hz.
These clocks will have subtly different frequencies, and the difference will vary slightly over time. Hence the average
number of audio samples per frames will be slightly more or less than the expected rate.
low-level USB stack and the USB Audio stack should be tightly integrated, without buffering in between
Once a device is USB Audio Class compliant, it will integrate neatly into the operating system.
Compliance to the standard makes the device interoperable. O/S vendors can supply a single USB Audio driver that
drives a multitude of devices, with a multitude of capabilities.
Indeed, the same USB Audio implementation can be parameterised to implement a different number of channels, and
the same driver can be used to interface to the device.
Summary
USB Audio Class 2.0 takes advantage of High Speed USB 2.0, enabling low latency transfer of audio between PC and
a connected audio device. The high throughput of High Speed USB 2.0 can be utilised to deliver many audio channels,
and with high audio quality. The USB Audio Class standard caters for a wide range of devices, from complex mixing
desks with many channels, multiple clock sources and complex controls, to surround sound systems, PC speakers and
microphones.
Reply
schlesische wurstspezialiäten says: November 19, 2012 at 12:22 am
Definitely, what a fantastic blog and enlightening posts, I definitely will bookmark your blog.Have an awsome day!
Reply
Hugh Pattenson says: December 29, 2012 at 12:13 am

Nice site, i haveonbookmarked
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Reply
Markus R. says: January 30, 2013 at 2:18 pm
You use the microphone input, that means it is a 1-channel device?
Is it possible to use the line-in to make it 2-channel?
Reply
tomi says: January 30, 2013 at 5:42 pm
I use microphone input, which means it is a 1-channel device.
It would be possible to use line-in on USB sound cards that to have 2-channel input.
The none of the USB sound cards I have have line input.
I don’t have plans to modify any line input USb sound card for DC input.
If AC input is enough, then you could use almost any USB sound card with line input as simple
oscilloscope.
Reply
Tomi Engdahl says: February 5, 2013 at 11:04 am
This web page has instructions to modify one USB sound card line input to DC operation:
Sound Card DC Input Modification

http://www.daqarta.com/dw_ggnn.htm
If you need high frequency response as well as response down to DC, you can modify an existing sound card by
adding the DC Input Adapter circuit discussed here. This avoids the input AC-coupling discussed under DC
Measurements.
The easiest way to do this is to buy an inexpensive USB card, which can be combined with the DC Input Adapter in an
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Reply
grit says: April 3, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Looking for setting USB-Audio as default in the Pi’s configuration (for shairtunes) and finally you provided me with the
missing step, thanks!
Reply
robert says: April 10, 2013 at 2:37 am
It is possible to calibrate this hardware for correct voltage measurment? If so please write simple procedure.thx
Reply
tomi says: April 10, 2013 at 11:06 am
Zeitnitz Soundcard Oszilloscope software has some calibration features in it.
There is an offset reset function that can get you rid of DC offset. Just reset when you feed 0V to
the input (for example input shorted).
For amplitude calibration you need to have a signal source with a known amplitude (a function
generator, oscilloscope calibration signal output etc..).
Then you set the software so that it shows the voltage values right. There is a “Calibration of
amplitude” on “Scope parameters” under “Settings” page on Zeitnitz Soundcard Oszilloscope
software. Change that parameter so that the display you see on the computer screen matches
your signal source.
Reply
nch says: August 7, 2013 at 3:04 pm
Hi.experience
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How I could get a DC-coupled output from that usb soundcard?
Many thanks!
Reply
tomi says: August 8, 2013 at 12:00 pm
I do not have specific tips how to make this specific sound card output DC coupled.
Web page http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/224943-sound-card-line-outs-usualy-dc-

coupled.html says
“very few will be DC coupled – many audio DAC chip running from 5V have near 1/2 Vsupply
offset, are aiming for “desktop consumer” line levels of ~2 Vrms”
So a worth to check option would be what happens if you just short the output capacitors. I expect
that you would get a DC coupled signal where zero is near 1/2 of sound card DAC chip operating
voltage (I expect that chip operating voltage to be 5V or 3.3V).
Reply
nch says: August 9, 2013 at 8:04 pm
Thanks Tomi.
I will try what you say.
Reply
robert says: September 5, 2013 at 6:48 am
I tried this mod but without c6 (mic cap) i got 2.23V on mic line. Now if signal is above 2.23V i can see waveform,
below that not so much, and sensitive band is between 2.08 – 2.34V, minimal gain on windows mixer, standard looking
ebay usb card, just like in article.So what could be wrong?
Reply
Tomi Engdahl says: September 5, 2013 at 12:41 pm

That 2.23V on mic line is what is expected when the capacitor is not there. Also sensitive band is between 2.08 – 2.34
is what the mic input of the IC accepts. Whatever you want to feed in must be in this range (if it is not you need
electronics that converts it to this range).
Reply
John says: September 21, 2013 at 5:28 am
Just a thought, but wondering if several sound cards can be set up with some of the software packages for several
probes.
I still have a bunch I’d like to resource rather than landfill.
Reply
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Tomi Engdahl says: May 28, 2014 at 12:27 pm
An Audio Based USB Oscilloscope and Signal Generator for $20

http://hackaday.com/2014/05/27/an-audio-based-usb-oscilloscope-and-signal-generator-for-20/
Are you interested in building a 20kHz 2-channel oscilloscope and a 2-channel signal generator for only $20 with
minimal effort? Be sure to check out [Jan_Henrik's] Instructable that goes over how to build this awesome tool from a
cheap USB audio card.
Reply
Marco says: August 6, 2014 at 8:27 am
I shorted the (a) C6 capacitor as per instructions. Plugged it into my Mac. It was not recognised. After a short period I
heard a wee pop. The my computer said it had disabled the USB port due to too high a voltage being detected. I
removed the USB Virtual etc etc and smelled it. Shortly thereafter I tossed it in the bin – circuit boards that smell of
burning are not usually worth any further time.
What did I do wrong?
Reply
Tomi Engdahl says: August 6, 2014 at 5:37 pm
Some possibilities:
- unintentional short circuit created when doing modification
- esd spike damaged ic when you did modification
- manufacturer has changed component numbers in new hw revision
Reply
Marco says: August 13, 2014 at 10:35 pm
Success! After some shenanigans with the quality of the 3.5mm socket n my probe
box, I got what looks very close to a square wave displayed on mac, SignalScope.
(Synchrocity.wordpress.com).
Thanks.
Reply
Marco says: August 6, 2014 at 9:31 pm
Thanks Yep – I suspect option 3, as the solder up all went quickly and easily. The components seem more tightly
clustered on my device – so option 1 could be an issue. Maybe I’ll try again, hardly a costly component. (:-). Perhaps
I’ll actually check that resistance to the 3.5mm tip first this time! (;-(
Reply
Juan ramos says: October 12, 2014 at 12:52 am
It’s a very good circuit.. so easy and inexpensive
you can add a little capacitor at the output and a switch in parallel with the cap to change your circuit coupling.. to
select AC coupling or DC coupling..
greetings!
Reply
arend-paul spijkerman says: November 13, 2014 at 2:55 am
I have these old PCI soundblaster cards laying around, that can be used with soundcard oscilloscope software. I found
the 2 decouple capacitors on the line in port. Do you think the trick for the USB device will also work with PCI
soundcards ? Short the 2 caps with a little switch, and add a bias circuit.
The card seems to have a small creative ct1297-tat chip for the line in port which of cause has no datasheet on the
internet.
Reply
Tomi Engdahl says: November 13, 2014 at 10:09 am
The trick used on USB devices to get DC response might or might not work on PCI sound cards.
This depends on sound card design and ICs used in them. Some cards use just DC blocking
capacitor,
in some other designs in addition to the capacitor in the input there could be another DC blocking
stage inside the ICs… Different designs exist.
For your specific card I don’t know would it work or not.
Reply
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If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy
says: with
March 31, it.at 1:08
2015 Okam
Well .. i think i just tought of a workaround, to be able to more or less measure DC with
audio line in port, involving a 4066 quad electronic switch and a parallel port. So use
on electronic switch (per channel) to disconnect the signal you want to measure for a
temporary from the input, and use another electronic switch to put the voltage of a
parallel port line on the input. (of cause the input here is a circuit with voltage divider to
the actual input) .. of cause the electronic switches are also controlled by the parallel
port. So for 2 channels we need all for 4 4066 switches and 6 parallel port lines. So
with this setup we can right just before all the actual measurements very shortly put 0v
and 5v on the input, so now the software can be manipulating the parallel port
measure what values the input gives for 0v and 5v .. so when it does the actual
measurements it should be able to calculate what the actual DC voltage is. So
calibrate the inputs, then do say like 1000 readings in x milliSeconds .. then calibrate
again. Then measure again for x milliSeconds. Guess i’ll need to make some small
changes to my stampdock software to test it, to see if it actually works.
Reply
Alex says: December 16, 2014 at 8:48 pm
Brilliantly simple – I used this and build myself simple scope. I wanted to ask – for a simple way of extending the range
of input signal (say up to 5V DC) would it be enough to increase values of R3 and R2 in your circuit? That 5V range is
more useful for measurements of various logic circuits (like TTL).
Reply
Tomi Engdahl says: December 17, 2014 at 6:45 am
Change the attenuation formed by R2 and R3 is the key to change the range. Just increasing the
value of R3 and decreasing the value of R2 will reduce the sensitivity.
If you replace R3 120 kohm resistor with 1.2 Mohm resistor, the attenuation will be 10 times more.
“The circuit accepts signal levels to around two volts as it is”, so after modification the it would
accept signals to around 20 volts.
If you select R3 value of something like 470 kohms, I expect you get pretty useful range of around
7-8 volts or so…
Reply
Frank says: September 24, 2015 at 10:10 pm
Hi,
I recently bought a USB sound card that looks similar to the one you have. But, instead of a cm119 it has a cm108 on
board. I checked the data sheets of these chips and they look pretty much the same. On the cmedia site the cm119
looks optimized for VoIP.The board is different too. I checked the cap with the lowest resistance and that one is called
‘C3′. It is partly under the plastic blob covering the cm108.
I wander if this one can be used for the scope using the short you suggested for measuring DC.
cheers,
Frank
Reply
Tomi Engdahl says: September 25, 2015 at 8:08 am
You are right that on the data sheets those two chips look pretty similar
http://www.repeater-builder.com/voip/pdf/cm119-datasheet.pdf
http://www.halicky.sk/om3cph/sb/CM108_DataSheet_v1.6.pdf
I have not tested suitability of cm108 so I can’t say anything for sure, but I would think it could be
wort to test – the risk of breaking one very cheap sound card might not be that big – and it could
work.
If you go this route, I would like to know how this project went – share here so other people can
enjoy it as well.
Reply
One Dollar USB Sound Card Turned O-Scope

http://hackaday.com/2015/11/04/one-dollar-usb-sound-card-turned-o-scope/
Using the inputs on a computer’s sound card is an old trick to fake a very simplistic, AC coupled, slow oscilloscope.
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[TMSZ] has a better option, a ~1 dollar USB sound card which is easily hacked to work as a simple oscilloscope.
Software and DLL files to use the sound card with Miniscope v4 — a Windows GUI for oscilloscopes — are also linked,
so getting set up should be fairly simple.
Now of course this is not lab-grade measurement equipment: the sampling rate is limited to 44KHz and the voltages
must be in the typical “line level” range, under two volts. If you don’t mind a little extra noise, you can increase the input
impedance with a single resistor.
Cheap C-Media (?) sound card

http://tomeko.net/dsoundscope/C_Media2/
This USB sound card that presents itself as C-Media is one of the cheapest sound cards available with price $1.1-$2
depending on vendor.
Miniscope v4
http://tomeko.net/miniscope_v4/
Reply
Tomi Engdahl says: January 28, 2016 at 12:17 pm
A Tale of Two (Sub $100) Oscilloscopes

http://hackaday.com/2016/01/27/a-tale-of-two-sub-100-oscilloscopes/
if you are trying to corral electrons into doing useful things, a scope is a necessity. You can’t visualize what’s
happening in a circuit any better than using an oscilloscope. Historically, the devices were expensive and bulky.
These days, scopes are relatively cheap, depending on what you have in mind for performance. They are also highly
portable, which is nice. I
That’s how I came into possession of two cheap scopes I wanted to talk about. They are similar in ways but different in
others. Neither are going to replace a real bench scope, but if you want something portable, or you are budget-limited,
they might be worth a look.
Cheap Scopes
Before I dive into any details, you might think about how much you are willing to spend for a scope–especially if it is
going ononly
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older bench scope. With the availability of perfectly good scopes from Owon, Rigol, and others in the $300 range
means older scopes can only sell for so much. Granted, if you actually need a scope with 5 GHz bandwidth, you are
still going to have to spend a lot of money, but for most of us, a 50 or 100 MHz scope with a few channels is perfectly
fine.
There is a rash of very cheap scopes based on fast ARM or other processors. These are neat, but the reality is that
many have low-bandwidth front ends or suffer from other issues. Some of the $15 or $20 kits are reasonable at that
price, but once you get up to the $100 neighborhood, I think you should have better if you are looking for your first
scope. The same goes for “soundcard” scopes (mainly an input network that feeds signals into your PC’s soundcard).
Fine for a DIY project, but probably not what you want for your only scope.
The two scopes I want to look at for now are the Owon Wave Rambler and the AllSun (or, sometimes, ESun) EM125.
The Owon is a small hand-held probe with a USB cable that sends data back to a PC application. The EM125 is a
scope meter — it has a small display and can also work as a volt or ohm meter. It does not connect to a PC. Either
instrument costs just about $100 and is easily available.
The EM125 is about the size of a mid-size digital volt meter, but while most volt meters are held in a portrait
orientation, the EM125 is landscape
The scope part of the instrument has a reported 25 MHz bandwidth and there is a proper connection for a scope
probe. The meter section uses a standard shielded banana plug.
I don’t like to use a scope’s auto function, but on this little meter, it is handy just to hold down the button and let it find
proper settings for a given waveform.
The Rambler is not too different from the EM125 regarding cost or performance. It also claims a 25 Mhz bandwidth. It
is USB powered
You must use the Windows software to see any results
There is some very basic open source for the OWON RDS scopes
How Do They Work?
Subjectively, both of these devices feel different from using a normal oscilloscope.
Honestly, I might use the Rambler more if it supported Linux nicely. It is much more like an ordinary scope in function, if
you can just get used to the feel of it and don’t mind lugging a PC around.
Reply
Raghu says: July 25, 2016 at 11:51 am
Can use this circuit http://xoscope.sourceforge.net/hardware/hardware.html for the sound card u used after shorting
the capacitor ?
Reply
Tomi Engdahl says: July 28, 2016 at 9:19 am
I think that circuit from http://xoscope.sourceforge.net/hardware/hardware.html could work without

problems (although I have not tested) if connected to my DC input circuit (that one with transistor
in it).
Reply
Raghu says: July 31, 2016 at 4:57 am
Should I keep a switch and use both the circuits, where one is used in measuring DC
and the other for AC.
Thank you
Reply
Potentially suitable for similar modification

http://www.banggood.com/3Pcs-Free-Drive-USB-Sound-Card-Notebook-Computer-External-Sound-Card-Module-USB-
p-1107812.html?rmmds=newArrivals
Reply
Soundcard DC in/out
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http://www.daqarta.com/dw_ggnn.htm Ok
http://www.daqarta.com/dw_ggmm.htm
Reply
Line out bias on sound card output

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/104101/line-out-bias-on-sound-card-output
I recently bought an USB sound card to do some measurements/experiments with.
Interestingly the ground of the female audio jack is not connected to the USB ground, it is DC biased with about 1.67
volts with respect to USB GND (half the AVDD supply voltage).
the USB sound card uses the VT1620A chipset – datasheet:

http://www.cqham.ru/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=113311&d=1338984800
I would assume it’s applying that DC-bias because it is cheaper to use an amplifier to generate a mid-rail then use
proper series-capacitors to decouple the line out signals.
Basically, the line outputs need to be able to swing positive and negative. The general way this is done is with a series
capacitor in each line-out connection, which blocks the DC. However, to get low enough frequency response with
headphones, which can be as low as 8Ω, you need a very large capacitor, which is expensive/physically-large.
Reply
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/224943-sound-card-line-outs-usualy-dc-coupled.html
I have a sound card that is DC coupled. I’m trying to think of the name of it but my back is out and I cannot go looking
on the shelf. It is an ISA bus card however and I don’t have any motherboards in service that have ISA slots.
Edit: It was *not* cheap.
very few will be DC coupled – many audio DAC chip running from 5V have near 1/2 Vsupply offset, are aiming for
“desktop on our
consumer” website.
line levels ofIf~2
you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
Vrms Ok
more DAP today are DC coupled – still not universal – DC coupled outputs with sw C inveter/splitters or actrive gnd are
built into some of these low V portable audio DAC chips to save the size of the output C and because they are used
with low Z, sensitive headpnones that are loud with < 1 Vrms drive
some DAQ are fairly low cost ~$200 gets 12 bits analog I/O with industrial specs, DC response
Reply
How to fix cheap USB sound card

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GNRzwfP7RE
Some cheap (1GBP or $1) USB sound card are missing the needed coupling capacitors in the headphone output. That
can break headphones and the sound card due the constant power draw caused by huge DC offset voltage. Leaving
those capacitors out will cut the cost little bit, but it will have dramatic efffect on sound quality and reliability of the
sound card. For some reason manufacturer left those capacitors out and replaced them with traces, that way both AC
and DC can go from the IC inside the epoxy blob to the headphone jack.
Reply
USB 3D sound card fix

http://leeds49.co.uk/2013/12/13/usb-3d-sound-card-fix/
I plugged one in and it was running in seconds, the first thing I noticed was how bad it sounded then my earphones got
hot.
I looked at the voltage output on the left and right channel and saw just over 2v DC on both.
Reply
CheapChop:
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experiencemeasuring DC withIfayou
on our website. sound card to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
continue Ok
http://lea.hamradio.si/~s57uuu/scdsp/CheapChop/cheapchop.htm
It uses a single 74HC4066 chip containing four CMOS switches, and a few resistors and capacitors. The components
in the above schematic will cost about a couple of Euros, but you will probably want to spend a little more for a small
box and some connectors.
Two of the CMOS switches make up an astable multivibrator, that oscillates at cca 5kHz. Their outputs control the
remaining two CMOS switches, that chop two DC voltages for the two sound card channels.
I’ve made the circuit fully symmetrical, to reduce crosstalks. The two chopping switches are operated anti phase, and
could be connected as a SPDT switch, if needed.
Reply
One Dollar USB Sound Card Turned O-Scope

https://hackaday.com/2015/11/04/one-dollar-usb-sound-card-turned-o-scope/
Using the inputs on a computer’s sound card is an old trick to fake a very simplistic, AC coupled, slow oscilloscope.
You can get DC operation by desoldering a couple capacitors, but if the sound card is integrated into the motherboard
it raises the stakes if you mess that up.
[TMSZ] has a better option, a ~1 dollar USB sound card which is easily hacked to work as a simple oscilloscope.
Easily found on eBay, the 7.1 virtual channel sound card
Cheap C-Media (?) sound card

http://tomeko.net/dsoundscope/C_Media2/
This USB sound card that presents itself as C-Media is one of the cheapest sound cards available with price $1.1-$2
depending on vendor.
Reply
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USB Soundcard To Digital Storage Oscilloscope

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20/10/2018 USB soundcard to digital storage oscilloscope |

ePanorama.net €25.29 €5.63 €27.90 €6.57

USB soundcard to digital storage

Great for DIY purposes.

Simon Klein says: June 21, 2012 at 2:11 pm

tomi says: June 24, 2012 at 6:35 pm

Tomi Engdahl says: June 28, 2012 at 10:45 am

Fundamentals of USB Audio

schlesische wurstspezialiäten says: November 19, 2012 at 12:22 am

Hugh Pattenson says: December 29, 2012 at 12:13 am

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience

Markus R. says: January 30, 2013 at 2:18 pm

You use the microphone input, that means it is a 1-channel device?

Is it possible to use the line-in to make it 2-channel?

tomi says: January 30, 2013 at 5:42 pm

I use microphone input, which means it is a 1-channel device.

Tomi Engdahl says: February 5, 2013 at 11:04 am

Sound Card DC Input Modification

grit says: April 3, 2013 at 1:57 pm

robert says: April 10, 2013 at 2:37 am

tomi says: April 10, 2013 at 11:06 am

Zeitnitz Soundcard Oszilloscope software has some calibration features in it.

nch says: August 7, 2013 at 3:04 pm

tomi says: August 8, 2013 at 12:00 pm

Web page http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/224943-sound-card-line-outs-usualy-dc-

nch says: August 9, 2013 at 8:04 pm

robert says: September 5, 2013 at 6:48 am

Tomi Engdahl says: September 5, 2013 at 12:41 pm

John says: September 21, 2013 at 5:28 am

Isabell says: May 21, 2014 at 5:31 am

Hi I am so happy I found your weblog, I really found you by mistake, while I

Tomi Engdahl says: May 28, 2014 at 12:27 pm

An Audio Based USB Oscilloscope and Signal Generator for $20

Marco says: August 6, 2014 at 8:27 am

What did I do wrong?

Tomi Engdahl says: August 6, 2014 at 5:37 pm

Marco says: August 13, 2014 at 10:35 pm

Marco says: August 6, 2014 at 9:31 pm

Juan ramos says: October 12, 2014 at 12:52 am

It’s a very good circuit.. so easy and inexpensive

arend-paul spijkerman says: November 13, 2014 at 2:55 am

Tomi Engdahl says: November 13, 2014 at 10:09 am

For your specific card I don’t know would it work or not.

Alex says: December 16, 2014 at 8:48 pm

Tomi Engdahl says: December 17, 2014 at 6:45 am

Tomi Engdahl says: September 25, 2015 at 8:08 am

Tomi Engdahl says: November 5, 2015 at 11:32 am

One Dollar USB Sound Card Turned O-Scope

Cheap C-Media (?) sound card

Tomi Engdahl says: January 28, 2016 at 12:17 pm

A Tale of Two (Sub $100) Oscilloscopes

You must use the Windows software to see any results

How Do They Work?

Raghu says: July 25, 2016 at 11:51 am

Tomi Engdahl says: July 28, 2016 at 9:19 am

I think that circuit from http://xoscope.sourceforge.net/hardware/hardware.html could work without

Raghu says: July 31, 2016 at 4:57 am

Tomi Engdahl says: November 24, 2016 at 11:37 am

Potentially suitable for similar modification

Tomi Engdahl says: August 30, 2017 at 8:05 pm

Tomi Engdahl says: August 30, 2017 at 8:11 pm

Line out bias on sound card output

I recently bought an USB sound card to do some measurements/experiments with.

Edit: It was not cheap.