I’m evaluating purchasing the PSR-S900 to replace my aging PSR-2000. I have noticed some distortion when playing the PSR-S900 and was hoping someone one that uses this forum with a PSR-S900 could try something for me. I don’t know if this distortion is inherit to all PSR-S900 or just the one I am considering purchasing. The music store I am purchasing this from only has one in stock so I have nothing to compare it too. My current PSR2000 has no distortion at all making the same adjustments even maxing out the total gain. I have also tried all the suggestions in the back of the PSR-S900 manual
for voices distorting that is how I found that the “total gain adjustment” was causing this problem.

To reproduce the distortion using the Live! Grand Piano or JazzChorus sound, turn off all the effects, turn the “total gain adjustment” up over the half way point and see if you start to hear distortion. If you bring down the total gain below the half way point the distortion starts to disappear. If you use headphone it’s easier to hear. To change the total gain adjustment on the PRS-S900 do the following.
1. Select mixing console, eq tab then edit. Then total gain adjustment.

I appreciated the help on this. I don’t want to purchase this keyboard until I know all PSR-S900 have this same issue when the total gain is moved above the half way point.

-Likes so far over the PS2000
Organ and Guitar voices.
Styles
No more floppy swapping.

- Dislikes so far over the PSR2000
Grand Piano voice. I don’t hear much difference over the PSR2000 after playing them side-by-side
I like the control layout of the PSR2000 better. It was more compact.
Cable inputs on the S900 are way under the back side. It’s hard to see what you are plugging into where.

Try a factory reset on the S900...hold the uppermost key(C) whilst switching on the keyboard.

Someone may have been messing with it.

I get no distortion on my S900 when raising the gain.

Ian

Could it be that you are just overdriving the amp ?

In more cases than not , if you must go more than half way on either gain or volume , then it might be wise to think about an external sound source.

Good luck !
Gary 

Thanks for the reply. This keyboard can out of a sealed box direct shipped from Yamaha and the first person to touch it was me. I tried what you suggested (system reset)and the same problem exists. Have you tried your keyboard on the Jazz Chorus sound as well? There must be something wrong with this keyboard then. Thanks again.
Rick L>

Rick,

I tried it again...I selected Live Grand, turned off all effects and set the EQ to Flat.

When I raised the total Gain I got distortion.

Seems to a normal thing as my S900 has had no problems since I got it.

Hope this helps.

Ian

Thanks for the reply Gary. The distortion occurs using the internal speakers, headphones or differnet external sound sources. I have narrowed the problem to the keyboard itself.
You can keep the master volume(dial on the left hand side of the keyboard) say at 10:00 a comfortable volume but only when you turn the internal “total gain adjustment” above the mid point do you start to hear the distortion.

Rick,

I suspect that the problem is due to loose screws in the speakers. I've heard of this with both the PSR-3000 and S-900, and in all of those cases the keyboard had to be opened and the screws coated with Lock-Tight, then tightened with moderate torque to reseat the speakers. Once this was done the distortion disappeared.

Removing the bottom of the keyboard involves the removal of approximately 20 screws, then the keyboard opens somewhat like a book from front to back. Before doing this, however, I suggest contacting Yamaha's Service Department at 714-522-9000 and inquire about the location of the nearest warrenty service center. Opening the keyboard could possibly void the warrenty, which would not be a good thing.

Hope this helps solve your problem,

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

Ian,
Thanks I guess that explains it. Normal for this type of board. Ian, So do you always run your internal EQ setting no higher then the mid point on the S900?
Rick L>

Rick,

I am curious why you did this as a test?

The tone generator in the S900 is completely different than the PSR-2000.

Raising the gain, even with the master volume at 10:00 is overdriving the amp...you are bound to get distortion.

Your S900 is fine.

Ian

I've posted in the past about getting clipping on my PSR 2000 and then 3000 in loud midi-files; I would think this is a similar thing and is a facet of the way the internal processing operates and so is not a fault as such.

Whilst I noticed this issue just by listening, you can get some idea of the problem by recording the output of the keyboard (from the phono outputs) onto a PC. If possible set the record input on the PC so that the input level peaks at about -6db to avoid any possibility that you will clip the inputs of the PC soundcard. If you then look at the loud bits of the recorded waveform it is possible to see the "internal" clipping as flatlines. You can then adjust the mix levels on the keyboard to remove the clipping.

Thanks for all the help and replies on this subject. I decided to hold off for now on the purchase of the PSR-S900. I have always owned Yamaha products and consider them to be very dependable but I just wasn’t
“got to have this board now” with the PSR-S900.

For info:

The distortion occurs also on Ty2 under the above conditions, particularly when playing chords in the middle range.
And not just restricted to those voices- others include guitars (eg.jazz gtr.) & organ tibias as more obvious examples.


John

This doesn't surprise me at all. Just as boosting gain increases distortion on a guitar amp by driving the preamp harder don't boost the gain unless you are actually trying to add distortion as you may want to do to dirty up an organ or electric guitar patch to add some grit to the sound.