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Buzzing from Emu Proteus Keyboard


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Looking for suggestions:

 

We're a band that run's our own sound. My wife has two Keyboards: Alesis QS6 and an Emu Proteus (mostly for cool synth patch sounds). The emu of late has been giving me problems at set-up with a buzzing noise. It's not a show-stopper buzz, but as a guy who likes to keep things quiet...it's a pain in my ass. In the practice room, I get no such buzz. A few gigs back, I was able to change the Rapco DI (DB100) to a Whirlwind IMP and it cut down on the buzz by 50% (both units ground lifted). The Alesis is plugged into the same power on stage and it is very quiet (also uses a Rapco DB100 DI). Again, so is the emu at practice and at some of the gigs. The mixer we use live is a Mackie 1604vlz and I notice that I have to have the gain up pretty high on the EMU to keep it in line with the rest of the mix...if I cut the gain back the buzz goes way down but so does all the legitimate sounds of the keyboard. Is the EMU just more sensitive to AC ground issues? Should I run a line from the FOH Mixer's power to run the emu? If it is grounding issue, why doesn't lifting the ground fix it? Why did changing the Rapco DB100 DI out for a Whirlwind IMP make a differance at one place and not another?

 

FYI: As a means of quick troubleshooting, I switched the 1/4" line out connections between to Alesis and the EMU at the last gig. This effectively swapped signal paths between the quiet Alesis and the buzzing emu. After the swap the emu still buzzed and the Alesis was still quiet leading me to believe that the problem lies in the emu. Again this problem varies from venue to venue and does not present it self in our practice room that operates from a single ground. I didn't have time before we started to run another power cable to the emu but that's my plan at our next gig (unless I'm educated otherwise from the sage advice of the forum elders...:)

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I have that exact same problem, that's funny!

 

I've always just assumed its the keyboard. None of my keyboards except for the Emu give me a high buzz, and I know its not my cable.

 

I think that you probably do get the same buzz during practice, but just don't hear it because it's not at a high volume like it would be at a gig.

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The difference between the DI's may be justthe winding ratio. If the winding ratio is different, you may get a different signal transfer. It's not uncommon for ratios to be as much as 200% different between different manufacturers. The noise (if it's generated by the keyboard) will decrease by the same ratio as the signal.

 

It could very well be a keyboard problem...

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Flanc,

 

I read your thread about the PK6 and I can relate to some of your issues. The board is very noisy. I've had mine for a little more than a month and I've considered selling it (for other reasons). The Emu samples are notorious for projecting at a low volume. I have figured out a couple small solutions that may be of some help.

 

 

#1- Change your Keyboard Velocity (under controllers menu) to #6-medium or higher. Even though each preset's volume is maxed at 127, the velocity settings for the board are set for soft. If you increase the velocity setting (I have mine set on 9) you'll increase the overall level of each patch. Trust me.... if you haven't done this, it will make a huge difference in how the PK6 sounds next to the QS6.

 

#2- I also use a second small stereo mixer in between my keys and the main PA. That allows me to control the line signal, independently from each synth to the main PA. I usually have my Triton LE set at 5 from the synth and the channel level at 5 on the Yamaha mixer. My Emu volume is set at 5 as well but the channel volume is usually set to 7 or 8. It allows me to not have to crank the gain for each synth (which causes some noise) and provide an even mix even before it hits the main PA.

 

I wish you luck. As I said I'm selling my PK6 for an XP30. I need a synth that is more performance oriented.

 

 

Cheers and keep on rocking.:D

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