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 sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: janlynn 
Date:   2009-07-15 12:34

I have a practically new digital piano. i started taking lessons (have had 3 so far) and the first day my teacher kinda pounded on the key board.

I noticed last night while playing there was this other "noise" and when I stopped playing I could hear a crackling like pitch which stopped after a couple seconds. it happened 3 different times.

First, I'm wondering what is wrong and can it be fixed?
Second, Did the pounding cause this to happen?

I'm sorry this is not clarinet related but I figured someone here might know.

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: skygardener 
Date:   2009-07-15 13:04

Is it coming from the keys or the speakers?
In any case, there are many things in digital pianos (just like clarinets) that can break under different situations.

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: janlynn 
Date:   2009-07-15 13:08

i guess its coming from the speakers? b/c when i stopped playing i could still hear a cracling sound and i wasnt pressing anything.

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: tictactux 2017
Date:   2009-07-15 13:59

...do you also hear it when you're wearing headphones?

--
Ben

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: janlynn 
Date:   2009-07-15 14:07

i havent tried it with the headphones? what does it mean if i do - or dont hear it with headphones?

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: tictactux 2017
Date:   2009-07-15 14:51

Well, if you don't hear it with the headphones, it must be between the amplifier and the speaker. If you also hear it with the headphones, it must be somewhere between the key and the headphone amplifier.

--
Ben

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: skygardener 
Date:   2009-07-15 14:54

If it happens with the speakers, but not the headphones, then there is something wrong with the speakers. If it happens with the headphones, then there is something wrong in the hardware/software of the piano itself.
Do some tests- does it only happen on certain notes? What about in combination with other notes?
In any case, if you bought it recently, then you can have it looked at and it should be under warranty (depending on how recent). I highly doubt that a professional pianist would hit they keys so hard that it would cause some sort of damage, but it is narrowly possible.

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: janlynn 
Date:   2009-07-15 15:01

o-kay . thank you. the piano was a christmas gift from my father. hopefully the warranty is for a year.

i cant duplicate what it is doing. it just does it then stops and when i try to repeat what i was doing when it happened, it doesnt do it.

my piano teacher isnt exactly professional (yet)....he actually is going back to school in the fall to get his masters in film music composition and just trying to earn a little extra money to buy some music software that he needs. He IS a good pianist tho and i think he was tyring to show off a bit that first day to show me that he could play and really did pound the keys kinda hard....but i dont know....if it was "too" hard. the problem only started 2-3 weeks after the first lesson.

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: Koo Young Chung 
Date:   2009-07-15 15:14

Probably pounding the keys has nothing to do with what you're having.

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: mrn 
Date:   2009-07-15 22:02

It's possible that the wire that connects the speaker to the circuit board (or some other connection) is somehow loose. That would account for the noise (and for the fact that the instrument is otherwise playable).

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: Lelia Loban 2017
Date:   2009-07-16 12:53

If making sure everything's firmly connected doesn't work, I hope you'll get that piano checked under warranty soon. It shouldn't be making any crackling noises or any other non-musical noises. And don't let the music store give you any blaming-the-victim guff about how high you turn up the volume or how hard you press the keys, either. I play a Yamaha Clavinova CLP-811 that I bought new in 1996. I practice a lot and I don't baby the keyboard or the volume control. After all these years, the speakers are silent unless I press keys. That's the norm with good-quality electronic pianos. They're built to take a pounding in music schools.

Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: BflatNH 
Date:   2009-07-16 14:34

When you say "cracking like pitch", if you mean that the noise has a sound like the note you played, then there may be a problem with the contacts under the keys, but I'm doubtful that it could fail this early in the life of the instrument. Some keyboards take MIDI inputs and it is possible to have the instrument ignore the internal keyboard and respond only to an external keyboard signal sent via MIDI input, which could isolate the keyboard as the problem.

If you mean that the crackling is just that (without a tone center) then it could be a number of things. If you are using an external amplifier and speaker, try using those separately (or it could be the connecting cable and/or connectors) and see what happens.

If you're using the amplifier and speaker internal to the keyboard, then it could be something like the volume control or the earphone jack (if it cuts out the speaker when you plug in earphones) - in these cases, sometimes things get noisy by not using them enough, and the cure can be to move the control or plug/unplug a number of times until the contacting surfaces clean themselves. On rare occasions if these parts are overused, they may need to be replaced. Also, much more often in the old days, an internal part would become noisy somewhere in the amplifying system, which can be isolated (with patience and time) and replaced.

The hardest thing to deal with is intermittent problems - good luck.

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: 78s2CD 
Date:   2009-07-19 16:07

As with any other computer-based device, the first thing to try is turn it off and unplug it for a minute. Sometimes a cold reboot will help sort things out. Check your manual. There may also be a function to reset to factory settings.

I use my Yamaha Clavinova to transcribe music for a clarinet choir using the USB interface to a laptop. I find that after the piano has been set as both MIDI in and out, the piano sound remains slightly altered and it needs to be turned off and on to get back to normal.

Best regards,

Jim Lockwood
Rio Rico AZ

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 Re: sorry off topic - digital piano
Author: janlynn 
Date:   2009-07-20 14:44

thanks for all the thoughts and advice. i unplugged it and plugged it back in and so far it hasnt presented the problem again.

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