oscilloscope

[Wvz]

We use a NI 6221 USB DAC to collect analogue seismic data from a hydrophone or transducer. We use 3rd party acquisition software which can connect to the NI interface, this all happens in the back ground and I do not do any programming etc. So I do not have much experience outside the 1 or 2 function that I use.

I would like to know if I can use the 6221 as an oscilloscope to test my hydrophone and get a graph of the signal and print it, the voltage ranges is normally +-5v. What I can't figure out is if I need LabView software, or if Labview is just used to program an App that with the functionality that I require. I also suspect that LAbview costs more than an entry level oscilloscope, in which cast I will just but one. I was just thinking that I already have a pretty good ADC and it would be great if I can use it with out too much cost or effort.

[santo_13]

You can potentially use it as an oscilloscope if its features satisfy your need (in terms of timing, signal conditioning, sampling rate, bandwidth etc.,)

NI provides drivers for multiple programming languages (C#, C, Python etc.,) and you can use those driver API in any application of your choice to implement the controls and visualization. LabVIEW is a programming language and not a requirement to use NI hardware.