Deciding between Analog Discovery 2 and Salae Logic 8

[anon]

'm an enthusiast looking to mainly work with digital and maybe occassionally on minor Analog Circuits as well. I was considering getting the Analog Discovery 2, but since my primary focus is digital someone recommended me the Salea over the AD2. I was told that the sample buffer in the AD2 is outdated and too small for anything useful. On the other hand even though I didn't get an exact number for this on the Salea, they seem to offer direct streaming to PC memory therefore limited only by the amount of RAM. Can someone please clarify if AD2 suffers from this limitation or if it has direct streaming support as well through Waveforms? Are there any workarounds for the small sample buffer? 

Thanks for reading.

[JColvin]

Hi @anon,

I think this thread on our Forums is the most relevant to your question.

Otherwise, my understanding is that there is direct streaming available with WaveForms, though the data rate is capped by the USB transfer rates, so if you are focused more on the digital side of things, the Digital Discovery will be more up your alley. @attila will be better able to comment on the current buffer capabilities since I know a lot of the comments I have seen in comparisons were from a couple of years ago and the WaveForms software has been updated quite a bit since then.

Thanks,
JColvin

[attila]

Hi @anon

The Analog Discovery has up to 16kS/line buffer for digital data. The newer WaveForms software adds data compression support for Logic Analyzer recording. This helps in longer captures with bursts of data over USB 2.0 HS connection.

The WaveForms application and Analog Discovery beside Logic Analyzer provides many other software and hardware features: Pattern Generator, Protocol tool (for UART, SPI, I2C communication), Oscilloscope, AWGs, Spectrum, Network, Impedance Analyzer, Power Supplies, Scripting in application for task automation...

The Digital Discovery has 2Gb (256MB) of RAM, 800MHz sampling on 8 inputs (200MHz on 32), 24 input lines and 16 IO lines, adjustable IO voltage and threshold, drive adjustment, power supply.

You can explore the software features in demo mode: https://analogdiscovery.com/download/

 

[anon]

Hi @attila

Thanks for the quick response. For starters I went ahead and ordered the Analog Discovery 2. 

I came across the Openlogger earlier today on crowd supply. Does the logging mentioned there something that's possible to do with the Discovery as well?

Regards

[JColvin]

Hi @anon,

If you are referring to the logging directly to an SD card, no, that feature is not directly available for the Analog Discovery 2. There is a Record option that you can choose (for both the Oscilloscope and Logic Analyzer tools) that will stream data to a file on your PC over USB and based on the documentation (available in the Help->Browse tab within WaveForms) this will let you record about 1M samples/sec which is much faster than the OpenLogger will be able to provide.

Thanks,
JColvin

[anon]

Thanks JColvin.

I went ahead and purchased the Analog Discovery 2 a few weeks ago. I'm happy with it!