Well I think the final verdict is in on my problem with static and hiss in the PSR-2000. First off I want to say that NONE of this is Gary's fault, and I DO NOT want anyone to let this problem stop them from doing business with Gary Diamond. Gary has been an absolute pleasure to do buisness with. He's honest and straight forward. If he had another PSR-2000 on hand for sale, I'd take it without question.

Ok here's the thing. I'm now 99.99% sure the proble resides somewhere in the keyboard. Here's what I did. Inititally the keyboard picked up some signal in my home. However along with that static signal there was also a considerable amount of "white noise" coming from the speakers. Now this can be considered normal at times (if you turn the volume up all the way). Now, by placing the keyboard in various spots in my home I've been able to reduce the static noise. However the "hiss" sound will not go away. Naturally I suspected my home to be the cause of this. So I ran several tests to see if my condo was the cause (which it was for the static noise).

So to test my theory I took the keyboard to (two other homes--relatives of mine). Of course I packed the board back in the box each time because I didn't want to take a chance in moving it , and of course it had a very pampered ride in the back seat of my Lincoln Town Car (baby's got air suspension) The first home was my wife's grandfathers. The static was not present in his home. However, the "hiss" sound was still there. We were both able to hear this standing several feet away from the keyboard. He commented that the "white noise" seemed a little louder than it should be.

Ok, now I tried the board in my wife's mother's home. Again the static was gone, but the "hiss" was still there. So I tested another theory of mine. I placed my ear completey over the speakers. I then turned the volume knob all the way up. When I did this I heard a change in the sound and what I heard was the (Actual White Noise) one should hear from doing this. So what I have is a hiss sound overtop of the (white noise) that's supposed to be there. So there's a second "hiss" that doesn't belong there. Just to make sure I'm not crazy I had my wife and her mother check with me, and they both heard the same thing. My wife commented about being able to hear this "hiss" while being several feet away as well.

Now here's the thing. Some poeples ears are more sensitive and are able to hear this noise, and some people's ears are not able to pick this up as well. Keep in mind too there are many factors to take into consideration that would prevent a person from hearing this.

Now here's the honorable and noble part of this story. Gary Diamond (being the kind person he is) has asked me to ship the board back to him for a refund. Now folks if that's not an admirable synthzone member I don't know what is. I still want a PSR-2000 so I guess I'm still in the market Like I said if Gary had another in his hands I'd take it "blindfolded" because you know you're getting good service from a person like him. I strongly suspect this problem was caused by shipping. Granted FedEx is much better than UPS, they too at times have problems. I think the box took a knock in shipping. A board can get damaged and the box still not show signs of abuse.

Squeak

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 02-19-2005).]

Glad things worked out for you

Gary, you're a real gentleman!!

Squeak, if I were you I would wait and save up for a PSR 3000 if at all possible. The PSR 3000 hasn't been out that long and it's still a hot ticket item for Yammie. If you hold your horses and wait till they come down in price in a year or so that would be a good time to snatch one up in my opinion.

Granted, the PSR's have a little of the 'cheese' factor regarding the Key feel/action but if you can live with it the PSR 3000 is really a much better Board than the PSR 2000. The Piano voices are better, you get USB connectivity, and a lot of the other Voices have been improved upon too. Plus it has more polyphony in case you ever do any extensive sequencing and or complex compositions using all the features available on the PSR 3000 such as the Multipads, multiple Voice Layering, Midi's, Styles, plus your own playing of Melody notes along with Chords, etc. The one real bummer on the PSR 1500/3000 is the lack of dedicated DSP and Effects buttons. But that may not be a real issue for you either.

Even if you need an Arranger ASAP, I would still seriously consider a PSR 1500 or better yet the PSR 3000 over a PSR 2000. You will pay the currrent market price but it will be money well spent in my opinion.

You may also want to consider the Korg Pa50, which at $999 is priced a lot lower than the PSR 3000 and is still a lot of Arranger for the money. The Polyphony is a little meager at 62 notes but it may be more in your immediate price range and the polyphony may not be a critical matter. But if you can save a little every month, etc., I would sure consider saving up for a PSR 1500 or better yet the PSR 3000.

In the meantime you can still play your Casio WK-3500 for practicing, etc.

>> If you still have the Casio that is.

Best regards,
Mike



[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 02-20-2005).]

Mike,
You do make some good points. However here's what I want for my set up. I've already got a good chunk of change saved for a keyboard, but that pot is going to a Motif ES or the new Alesis Fusion Synth. What I wanted was a decent arranger and a top end synth.

I really like the PSR-2000. For my needs in the arranger department, the PSR-2000 really does all that I need. Sure the 3000 is great, but for me the PSR-2000 is more than sufficient.

I still have my Casio WK-3500. I was going to use my Casio WK as a controller for the PSR-2000. This will give me 76 full size keys, and much better quality pitchbend and modulation wheels. In the end I want my set up to be the Casio WK-3500, PSR-2000 and either the Motif ES or Alesis Fusion.

Thanks,
Squeak

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 02-20-2005).]

One and a half words...Fantom-X. Im waiting for the arrival of my Fantom-S (Same this basically, had to go cheap w/o the color screen) You should check them out, used ones go fairly cheap. I know its now an arranger, but you might double think if you check them out. If you have a place around you like guitar center that has one on display id reccomend running out and looking at it.

I was debating betwen the Fantom and the Motif. If you want to do sequencing on the bvoard itself, dont bother with the Motif many people that own or used it say its pretty much junk.

The Fantom has many incredible features like, Skip back sampling, a great huge four shade LCD on the S and full color LCD on the X. Great sequencer, sampler ect. Its pretty sweet, im so excited, but the guy who i bought mine from is very slow with the shipping

Phil

[This message has been edited by Pennywizz6 (edited 02-20-2005).]

Squeak,

Have you seen this video on the Alesis Fusion Synth? Wow !
http://trio.harmony-central.com/ramgen/WNAMM05/Alesis-Fusion.rm

Larry Hawk