Yamaha psr-e363: Why do the keys make thunking sounds when playing? How can I record with that sound?

[royks]

Hi

I recently bought an PSR E-363 to record some of my songs, but immediately found to my dismay that when playing the keyboard there are sounds of the keys thunking against the bottom (I presume). I thought, Well, surely that's a mistake, maybe I turned something on that provides that sound. CMaybe it's the touch sensitive feature that causes that.

Is that really the way it is? How can one record or play out if that thunk is going to be there?

royks

 

[Biggles]

Welcome.

A keybed is a mechanical device and they all have some degree of noise associated with playing them.

How are you recording?

If using a mike on the speakers then yes it will pick up keybed noise but there are other ways to record.

 

[delaware dave]

As noisy as the TP20 keybed is on my GEM Equinox it never interfered with recording, even if i mic'd the speaker because the level of loudness needed to get the output to -6db on the recording device is more than sufficient to drown out the keybed noise. In fact the bigger issue with a direct mic is the hiss that comes out of the speaker that you are recording from. This is the reason that you should record directly from the outputs of the keyboard and not from a mic unless it is a leslie speaker in which case you should throw a blanket over the leslie when micing the leslie. If you are recording directly from the outputs then the keybed has no bearing on the keyboard recording itself.

 

[royks]

Thank you for the replies.

Can't say I've ever had a keyboard this loud, where I even thought of it.

That said, I am recording live because of rubato and it would be tough to do the vocal after. Normally I would record instrument to Audacity, then do the vocal to Zoom H4n.

Maybe I can still do that and turn the the kybd volume as low as possible when recording vocal to Zoom.

Thanks again.

royks

 

[royks]

Sorry, turning down the audio won't diminish the thunks. Working, a bit oopsadaisical.

 

[Biggles]

Connect up an amp/monitor speakers and mount them remotely well away from the keyboard and then record.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I have several PSR-E and related models, and none of them make a thunking sound when I play them; I mean, they do make normal keybed noise (i.e., they aren't completely silent), but they're unweighted synth-style diving board keys, so they're a lot quieter than, say, my M-Audio Axiom 61-ii with semi-weighted piano-style box-shaped keys.

Then again, I don't know how forcefully you're tickling the ivories plastickeys, so maybe mine would be making as much thunking sounds as yours is if I were playing the same way you are?

Anyway, if you just bought the PSR-E363 and think there might be an issue with its keybed, you might want to see if you can return it for a replacement while it's still under warranty and within any return period.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I have just realized that there is a thread about this issue over at the PSR Tutorial Forums, although it's about the keybed in the new PSR-SX900 model rather than the PSR-E363.

The consensus over there is that the issue is due to the grease used in the keybed, although there also seems to be some differences between the newer keybeds and older keybeds which didn't exhibit this issue.

One of the users ended up correcting the issue himself by replacing the keybed grease that Yamaha used "with a grease of higher density and quality." He "used synthetic grease for electronic components, you can find it in electronics stores, it is white and it is placed in the new black ones at the end of each key."

"Clacky" keys on SX900/700: Please send me your Serial numbers!

"Clacky" keys on SX900/700: Please send me your Serial numbers!

www.psrtutorial.com

"Clacky" keys on SX900/700: Please send me your Serial numbers!

"Clacky" keys on SX900/700: Please send me your Serial numbers!

www.psrtutorial.com

"Clacky" keys on SX900/700: Please send me your Serial numbers!

"Clacky" keys on SX900/700: Please send me your Serial numbers!

www.psrtutorial.com

Apparently some users (like myself) aren't as bothered by the sound and consider it to be normal, whereas other users are bothered enough by it that they were hoping for some sort of correction from Yamaha.

 

[CowboyNQ]

Slightly tangential but some stage pianos actually simulate keybed noises (hammers returning to original positions, dampers being lifted, etc) to create additional authenticity. Fairly certain that’s not the case for your keyboard however.

If you want a great recording, I’d do as Dave suggested and record into your Audacity. I understand the rubato issue but if you watch the piano waveforms on audacity while you record your vocal - you will be able to sync the timing without having to play keys while you sing.

 

[royks]

@SeaGtGruff ~ Sir, thank you so much for that further info! Much appreciated. Just seeieng it now.

 

[daniyal113]

@SeaGtGruff ~ Sir, thank you so much for that further info! Much appreciated. Just seeieng it now.

believe me I own PSR E363 and its fantastic keyboard.... for recording I will suggest you to record from usb host like recording and playing at the same time...later you can edit your clip by replacing the audio file without much efforts.

Heres my one of recording from this beauty

 

[SeaGtGruff]

believe me I own PSR E363 and its fantastic keyboard.... for recording I will suggest you to record from usb host like recording and playing at the same time...later you can edit your clip by replacing the audio file without much efforts.

Heres my one of recording from this beauty

Wow, that was both fun and impressive! Two thumbs up from me!

 

[daniyal113]

Wow, that was both fun and impressive! Two thumbs up from me!

thanks so much your appreciation mean lot to me
I use to share my recording in music corner. so its available there too

 

[SeaGtGruff]

What I was impressed by-- aside from the sounds of the PSR-E363-- was how you were able to play a few measures of music, loop them, and then keep adding more layers. What were you using to do that?

 

[daniyal113]

What I was impressed by-- aside from the sounds of the PSR-E363-- was how you were able to play a few measures of music, loop them, and then keep adding more layers. What were you using to do that?

PSR E363 has some limitations like it do not have pitch bender wheel. So I early created those sounds on FL studio. Rest all are PSR original sounds. There is a software called bandlab which I have installed on my notebook. I connected it with usb host and recorded all the voices one by one.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Ah, okay! I didn't think the PSR-E363 had a built-in phrase-looping feature like that, so I figured it had to be done using external software.