Just wondering...

Bill in Dayton

If you aint got a mixer and you are getting hiss from the mic channel because you have to turn everything up?

If you rhave a psr you'll get hiss no matter what you do. The mic input is not very clean.

Preamps work wonders for digital recordings, and can add some "oomph" to a somewhat average mic. Studio applications mostly, but certain live situations can benifit as well.

Uncle Dave-

So, for the most part, if I'm clearly pleased with my live sound as is...it wouldn't be a significant improvement to look at adding a mic pre-amp, true?

The subject came up in my openign discussions with the sales tech when I was looking for new pa speakers...The tech felt with a mic pre-amp, it might enhance the vocals to where my old yamahas might have been acceptable. Regardless, it wouldn't have addressed any of the instrument sound reproduction...

Bill

Bill,

Are you singing through the keyboard? If so be sure the switch on the back is set to mic--not LINE.

Dave, I don't get any hiss at all with the 3K using the Crown 311 or Sennheiser, but this may have something to do with the way I have the mic EQ set.

Gary

Gary-

No, not using Tyros for any vocals at this point...

I'm running my Sure 57a into my digitech VR, then taking its stereo outs into a stereo channel on my mixer...

I'm not hearing any hiss or noises at all...

I guess I had never used a mic preamp, and wasn't sure if it was anything I ought to be looking at, that's all...

Bill

Bill, I haven't used a preamp either, but I think even the VR would qualify as a preamp to some degree. My understanding is that a preamp can help boost/lower some of the characteristics of a mic to give a beteer or different sound. In a live situation I don't feel a preamp is usually necessary, at least not in our situations.

http://www.tweakheadz.com/catalog-mic-preamps1.htm

Preamps...

No mic hiss for me with any of the PSRs.
Sometimes I run the mic straight into the keyboard, sometimes I use a mixer and a "send" to the keyboard. No hiss.
All the demos on my website were made live with the mic through the keyboards. No hiss.
DonM www.donmasonmusic.com

Trust me, they hiss. If the EQ is set to anything higher than flat ..... you get hiss. Granted, it's not horrible, but maybe your situations and/or hearing loss mask it to a degree.
If you use the Noice gate - it becomes very clear just how much hiss the unit generates. It's not the mic input alone ... it's the general amp.

The Tyros may not have the same noise ratio. I'm just talking psr here.

Bill,

The Digitech Vr has a very good mic pre amp. I don't think anything else is needed.

Tom

Bill,

The Digitech has its own preamp that is built in. You don't need one. Just plug the output directly into the powered speakers, or run it through the Tyros Aux-In.

Dave, I just turned the 3000 all the way up and there is no hiss--it's stone quiet. I then plugged it into my amp, cranked it up all the way--no hiss. Plugged in the Sennheiser E-855, turned up the mic volume and no hiss. Turned my hearing aid up all the way and still no his. Must be something in your set-up. My EQ's are set pretty hot, both the general and mic, so I can't blame it on the EQ.

The real test was to ask Carol if she heard any hiss. That woman can hear a mouse peeing on cotton. She said there was no hiss. If she can't hear it, then it just does not exist. Gotta' be something in your system that's causing it.

Gary

Gary,
It's a noice gate thing. Yamaha disguises it very well when the keys are not pressed. As soon as you play a note ..... there it is. I gotta challange you on this one !

Sorry Dave. Just tried it with keys pressed down and no hiss. What settings are you using for your EQ, etc? Must be something you're doing differently than DonM, Donny, Hank and myself. We're not getting any hiss at all. So far, I have not been able to duplicate the problem using my rig. If I could, I could then figure out a fix for your system. I've tried everything I know to make it hiss and it just does not happen.

I know I'm old and my hearing is shot to hell, but Carol's hearing is better than anyone I know. If the hiss were there, she would tell me right away. After nearly 44 years, she's not at all bashful about telling me something. I even plugged in my headset, which is very high quality, plugged in the mic, turned both volumes up all the way, held down a "C" chord, and no hiss. This is way beyond normal operating levels.

Wish I could be of more help in coming up with a solution, but without being there to hear your system, it's difficult to diagnose the problem. Guess I'll have to make another trip north.

Good Luck,

Gary

I think the hiss is in your head, Dave. Maybe an aftereffect of Redhead withdrawal.
Or maybe it's that cheap little Bose pa system you are using.
Come on down with DNJ and Gary in January. Maybe the humidity here stops the hiss.
DonM

I heard a hiss when I STOPPED playing. Told a joke between songs...and the whole room hissed.
Eddie

Dave's PSR 3000 seems to be throwing a 'hissy' fit.

PS: A good test would be to try another PSR 3000 and do all the things Gary did to his to try and get it to hiss. If and when you find one that doesn't hiss, immediately purchase it and sell the hissy one preferably to someone who doesn't mind a little hiss. Either that or to a person who is hard of hearing and wouldn't know the diff anyway.

Better yet, send it back to a Yammie repair shop and tell them to fix it ASAP. That way you wouldn't be dumping off a faulty product on someone else Dave. It's under warranty right? So let Yammie fix it if it bugs you enough to be annoying to you and more importantly annoying to your audience.

You may have gotten a rotten apple in the otherwise vast majority of hiss-less ones. It might be something faulty in the Keyboard's innards. Either that or your house line A/C current is fluctuating beyond the norm and possibly causing the hiss. You may need a line conditioner UD.

Maybe it's not isolated to just your home either. Could be the whole Philly area, who knows? So you may have to drive quite a distance to find a hiss-less one if you decide to do the 'hiss' test.

Best regards,
Mike

Although there's no hiss coming from the speakers when I turn the volume up to max, as soon as I plug the mic in (switched off) there's slight hiss when you turn the volume up to max... and that's with the mic trim set at minimum.

Naturally, as Dave mentioned, it disappears when you switch the noise gate on.

It's not just hiss though, turn the mic trim past 12 o'clock and you get a nice little buzzing sound accompanying the hiss too.

Cheers,
Rich

Rich,

I turned everything up as high as it would go, the mic volume(s), master, etc. No humm, no hiss.

In an effort to duplicate the humm, I plugged in an unshielded, inexpensive mic cable and an old Shure mic. Then I get a low-level humm, but again, the volume level really was turned way above normal operating levels.

If I recall, Dave is running everything through a mixer. It's possible that this could be the root of the problem, but without actually being there and going through the process of elimination, I cannot make that determination. Like I said, time for another trip to the frozen north--just as soon as the BENYS leave.

Gary

Petey was a snake, only sooo big. Petey lived in a pit with his mother.
One day Petey was hissing in the pit when his mother said, "Petey, don't
hiss in the pit. If you must hiss, go outside the pit and hiss." Petey
went outside the pit to hiss. Petey was hissing all around, when he
finally leaned over a little and hissed in the pit. Petey's mother
heard Petey hissing in the pit and said, "Petey, if you must hiss in the
pit, go over to Mrs. Pott's pit and hiss in her pit." But Mrs. Pott's
was not at home, so he hissed in her pit anyway. While Petey was
hissing in Mrs. Pott's pit, Mrs. Pott's came home and found Petey
hissing in her pit and said. "Petey, if you must hiss in a pit, don't
hiss in my pit, go to your own pit and hiss." This made Petey very sad
and he cried all the way home. When Petey got home, his mother saw him
crying and said, "Petey, what's the matter?" Petey said, "I went over
to Mrs. Pott's pit to hiss in her pit, but she was not home so I hissed
in her pit anyway. Mrs. Pott's came home and found me hissing in her
pit and said, "Petey, if you must hiss in a pit, don't hiss in my pit,
go to your own pit and hiss."" This made Petey's mother very angry.
She said, "Why that mean old lady. I knew Mrs. Pott's when she didn't
have a pit to hiss in"

DonM

Hi Gary,

It's certainly a strange one...

I only hear it when something is plugged into the mic socket, even if it's only a 3.5mm to 6mm jack adaptor (the one I use in the headphone socket to shut the speakers off when listening through the hi-fi).

There are 4 ways for me to make the hiss and buzz disappear completely... either switch the noise gate on, mute the mic, or reduce the mic's volume slider considerably (all within the 'overall mic settings' tab).

The 4th way is to simply unplug the adaptor (or mic) from the mic socket.

As you say though, no one operates these keyboards at maximum levels (and the noise gate would generally be on) so I don't really mind that the hiss is audible at those levels... but it's interesting that yourself and others don't hear any.

Cheers,
Rich

lol Don, just seen that!

Here's a sample recorded from the fixed level phono outs.

Hiss and buzz (317KB)

The first 10 secs is the general hiss at a higher master volume level once the mic input socket has been 'activated' (there was silence before).

The rest of the sample introduces the buzz as I gradually raise the mic trim from minimum to maximum.

For this experiment I used the adaptor to activate the mic socket, but it's the same when the mic is plugged in.

I've normalised this to 0dB... it isn't this loud in real life.

Cheers,
Rich

Don,

That's a long way to go for a groan. Good job.

Finally, after many attempts, I was able to get some hiss. However, in order to do this, I had to turn off the noise gate, as UD said, then turn the main keyboard volume all the way up, turn the front panel volume all the way up, then turn up the trim pot to where I was on the verge of feedback. Then I got the hiss. Like I said, much higher than normal operating levels. When things were set to normal level, even with the noise gate turned off, there was no perceptable hiss. Oh, I'm sure it was somewhere deep in the background, but not at perceptable levels.

Now I guess the next question that comes to mind is why would you want to turn off the noise gate? I always figured this was to provide sufficient input level to trigger the keyboard's vocal effects. "This effect mutes the input signal when the input from the microphone falls below a specified level. This effectively cuts off extraneous noise, allowing the desired sig-nal(vocal, etc.) to pass." Sounds just fine to me either way when the keyboard is set at normal operating levels.

Gary

Now I know why people are always telling me to hiss off...........I think