1. A method of creating and editing a mask/waveform for an instrument comprising the steps of: invoking a mask editor from an application running on the instrument that displays a context; displaying the context from the application in a graphic display as a reference together with a current mask as part of the mask editor, the context and current mask being unrelated; editing the current mask with respect to the reference to define a new mask; exiting the mask editor to return to the application; and applying the new mask to the context in the application.