Signals & Waveforms#

Following signals stage by stage. Presence, shape, gain, distortion, clipping. When the output isn’t right, the signal path is where the answer lies.

• Is the signal present at this node? — Confirming that a signal exists where it should. No signal at all is a different problem than a wrong signal.
• Does it match the expected waveform? — Comparing what the scope shows to what the datasheet, schematic, or simulation predicts. Amplitude, shape, DC offset, frequency.
• Where in the chain does it go wrong? — Stage-by-stage signal tracing. Input looks fine, output doesn’t — walk through the circuit until the break point appears.
• Is this stage adding distortion or clipping? — Waveform integrity through amplifier stages, filters, and buffers. Catching soft clipping, crossover distortion, saturation, and unexpected nonlinearity.