Hello all! Just looking for some help with a WK-3000 recording problem...

Is anyone aware of a way to play casio sound patches (.ckf files) stored on a PC via a previously recorded MIDI song file?

I am trying to avoid the low S\N ratio you get when recording from the headphones jack by recording the output from the PCs MIDI device (sound card, etc).

I hope someone can help, otherwise I will have to make do with the noisy recordings or buy another keyboard!

Cheers, Brad.

"Low S\N ratio" is relative. Certainly having to use the headphone output to make a recording isn't an ideal situation, but the S/NR of the WK-3000 usually isn't that much worse than units having dedicated line outputs (ex. WK-3500).

I might be able to offer some suggestions for improving the results if you could be a bit more detailed in how you are making your recordings. Into what recording device, and which inputs on it, are you feeding the WK-3000's headphone output? What type is the noise (hum/buzz, hiss, etc.)?

--Barry

Hi Barry. Thanks for the reply - I greatly appreciate it!

By low S/N ratio, I mean it is considerably lower than other sound sources I am using, e.g. a Boss guitar effects processor (specified to be 90dB S/N ratio). I can't really perceive the noise from that device, so the keyboard noise must be at least a couple of orders of magnitude 'worse'.

The noise is a typical amplifier hiss, characteristic of lossy transistor amplification.

I am running the WK3000 phones jack through a stereo cable into the stereo line-in on a Sound Blaster AWE64 soundcard, and recording straight to hard disk.

My guess is that the impedance/voltage of the phones jack is more suitable for driving headphones than a line in through a couple of adaptors and a cable, since the noise is less noticable when headphones are plugged straight into the keyboard.

Maybe I should just run some light noise reduction and a threshold gate on the recorded files during production?

I look forward to hearing your ideas!

Thanks again for the reply.

Brad.

Hi again Brad. You're welcome, I'm glad to offer what I can.

Yes, 90dB S/N isn't likely to result in much audible noise. I don't think the Casio will ever be that good, but I have two suggestions which may (or may not ) help, if you haven't tried them already.

The first is to experiment with the output volume setting of the WK-3000. I would try turning it up, and the sound card line input volume correspondingly down. That should help if the source of the hiss is the output amp section of the Casio. Obviously, don't turn the Casio up to the point where the sound card input is overloaded.

The second is to make sure that the sound card mixer level control for the microphone input is turned down or muted, assuming you aren't also using a mic while recording the Casio. Mic inputs are notorious for being noisy, often especially when left open circuit (no mic attached), and a lot of the software mixers for sound cards default to having the gain turned up and unmuted for all inputs. In fact, it wouldn't hurt to make sure any input you're not using is turned down.

I'm assuming that the cable from the Casio to the sound card is a shielded cable. That's important because the high-frequency noise from digital circuits can sometimes cause hiss-like sounds, and although the output impedance of the headphone circuit is relatively low, there might still be something picked up.

I hope that you find a solution in what I mentioned. Otherwise, NR and gating may indeed be the answer. Good luck.

--Barry