Violin sound.

[DM60]

Hi,

I'm having the weirdest morning ever. I posted the above message and it disappeared. I switched the electric kettle on and whilst waiting for the water to boil headed down to retrieve the wheelie bin which has just been emptied. Back indoors the kettle was struggling to boil the water and the swich clicked off; it was a really strange power cut; normally when power is cut it suddenly dies but not this morning; everything has been behaving strangely as if theres been a huge drain imposed on the supply; I wonder if it's anything to do with the 310 new houses being built along the valley bottom. As I was making a mug of tea I was happily munching a biscuit when the landline started ringing; I let it ring not wanting to pick up whilst munching a mouthful of biscuit.

The desklamp and kettle are now fine and the message I lost above suddenly appeared; I want to cancel this morning and skip straight to this afternoon because as I say it's weird. The phone call was a spam call.

Kind regards, Col.

Sounds like what they call over here as a brown out, where power is reduced due to high loads.

 

[DM60]

Hi,

Is it possible to connect my Yamaha PSR E383 keyboard to my smart 50" TV please. The keyboard although wonderful is very low volume on a number of settings so I connected it to a pair of M-Adio BX4 monitors which has improved the output but I'm running the keyboard and monitors on full. I've tried my two amplifiers which were poor. I don't want to lift the roof but I'd like spare volume. I'm plugging into the 1/4" jack socket on the keyboard. I've tried using an ethernet to HDMI cable from keyboard to TV. My desktop computer is in the office; my laptop is in the studio but I'm playing the keyboard in the front room. I have a pre amp and wonder if I can use this with the monitors; I'm doing my best but at 78 I'm not a modern 4 year old electronics whizz kid and I'm spending so much time on the internet and YouTube searching for information; I'm never bored. I'd appreciate any help please.

I'm not having the best of mornings so far; the computer keyboard wouldn't work the mouse died and now the desklamp is failing by slowly going dim; the keyboard and mouse are now working and a new bulb in the lamp will sort it out; just a normal day; it doesn't help being so dark and dismal outside.

Sorry for the moan but it seems the harder I try the wall becomes taller. I'll win in the end.

Kind regards, Col.

Did the power returning back to normal correct these issues?

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks for asking @DM60 Yes back to normal but only after more hassle. I pressed the remote to put the C/H back on then sat at the keyboard for a practice; half an hour later I suddenly felt frozen; the heating hadn't come on so down to the workshop and mess around in the cold for ten minutes until I finally got the heating to work. All in all a bad morning but the bungalow is starting to warm up again. What a strange morning.

Edit: More problems this afternoon; the C/H knocked itself off; I'd been playing the keyboard and wonder if the keyboard sent a signal to the boiler? Stranger things happen but the heating's back on again after I became frozen again; now the remote control won't select YouTube videos on TV but YouTube plays OK on the desktop; I've replaced the remote batteries but the problem remains; I've just ordered a new remote through eBay. Let this day be over I'm sick of it.

Kind regards, Col.

 

[Slouching Raymond]

The keyboard has a usb connector, which will just be for connecting it to a computer. That ought to allow digital audio to pass into the computer, and for MIDI data to pass between the computer and keyboard.
Other than that, just like my 'el cheapo' lightweight Yamaha piano, the only way to get an audio signal out of it is via the stereo headphone socket.
For some reason Yamaha outputs tend to be a bit quiet.
Your BX4 monitors have left and right Phono sockets, and left and right balanced 1/4" Jack sockets.
You could try going into either. I'll bet there's not much difference.
If you're going into the balanced, you'll need a cable with a stereo jack at the keyboard end, which splits into left and right jacks at the speaker end.
Npote that you'd be plugging an unbalanced signal into a balanced socket. I do it all the time.
The BX4 has low and high freq adjustment pots on the rear, whichare probably best set to be in the middle.
Then you need the little mono cable connecting the two mionitors, because the amp is only in one of them.
The only remaining thing is the switch to tell the monitor with the amp whether it is left or right.

I wonder if you are plugging a jack cable into one of the balanced inputs, then telling it it is the other speaker.
Sadly the BX4 monitors do not seem to have a volume knob,because they are too cheap.
My 3 pairs of monitors all have volume knobs, and can all blow your head off. I only turn them on a quarter.
The best option may be to connect the keyboard to your Tascam recorder, and connect the outputs of that to your monitors.
That would give you volume controls.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks so much for your comprehensive and useful reply Raymond; it's decent of you.

I've just tried my AKG K52 phones and they certainly are plenty loud. I brought my Beringer UMC404HD into the front room last night in order to experiment with it this morning but as explained everything totally ruined my day; I've finally got YouTube fully working on the TV; it's just been one big wind up today. I've heeded your suggestion and now the Tascam too is in the front room; assuming this bad luck leaves me for tomorrow morning I can try once again; the lighting is too poor in the front room to be playing around much tonight so I'll play the violin and keyboard to end the day.

The speakers are working fine on stereo but again due to lighting I'll play around with these too tomorrow. The BX4 both are set to high at the moment; there's a switch on the back for swapping connections without pulling the connectors out; I've tried both ways and as I say stereo is working.

I think possibly as you kindly suggest Raymond the Tascam might sort the problem out; using the tascam in the studio with these speakers they are definitely very loud but I don't fully understand the Tascam although playing with it tomorrow should enlighten me; I've been using the Tascam with a Rode NT2a mic on phantom power in the studio for recording and when recorded I could play back but as yet I don't understand how to play straight through from say the keyboard using the Tascam to the speakers; I've not tried to do it.

Yes both speakers are connected with the supplied cable and work OK. It's got the correct stereo jack into the keyboard with twin connecters to the speakers. The volume knob on the keyboard is at maximum so I assume the signal to the speakers will be at maximum too but the speakers aren't boosting the signal a great deal. It could well be my ignorance at fault as I learn so much about all the gear.

At last I'm feeling cosy and warm with the heating turned full on.

Thanks once again Raymond; I'll update when I've played around tomorrow; I've had more than enough for one day.

Kind regards, Col.