PSR-E433 sound quality issue update

[SciNote]

Okay, I was really thinking something was wrong with my keyboard, as I started noticing some distortion on certain notes with certain combinations of sounds that I never noticed before.  I previously have written about some noise I hear with the reverb, but this was independent of the reverb setting.  I really noticed it when I combined grand piano with galaxy electric piano (sounds 1 and 11 on the E433), and played some notes, such as a D and F# together with an aggressive touch around the middle of the keyboard.

Well, I went to the music store today and tried this on the E463 they have on display, and I heard the exact same kind of distortion.  So, it must just be in the design of the keyboard, so at least as far as that goes, my keyboard appears to be fine!

It could be a speaker issue, but I had also noticed it through a pair of JBL powered speakers (hooked to the headphone jack), as well.  However, my brother just gave me a really nice little Onkyo bookshelf stereo system (he got it at a garage sale or something like that), and that makes a huge difference.  Yes, certain sounds may have a bit of distortion, but the overall sound is greatly improved through that speaker system.  I would've thought that the JBL powered speakers would've been "hi-fi", as JBL is generally regarded as a good audio company, but perhaps this was due to those speakers mainly being designed for a computer and not for a musical instrument.

Finally, I got a used Behringer stereo reverb pedal off of Craigslist for $35, and I am using that for the reverb and turning down the built-in reverb in the keyboard.  Also an improvement, though I do hear similar noise if I turn the Behringer up too much.  Otherwise, it's a cool sound -- if I set it to "hall" and turn it up most of the way, you really get a "hey, that sound is coming from way over there across the football field" effect, though I would likely rarely use that in most actual playing situations.  But another great benefit of this set-up is that, since the reverb pedal affects the entire output of the keyboard, that means the rhythm drums also now get reverb, which also makes a great difference.

[Toril S]

Creative solutions!!