Law wrote:

if I turn the slider down on PT and volume up on the speakers, I get high pitch static sound when I put my ears near the speakers. Anyone know what might be causing this?

Sometimes hiss or static is caused by the internal circuitry of a not-too-good amplifier, which sounds worse the higher one turns the signal output at the amp, but it is also often caused by the fact that an audio cable between the amplifier and the speakers also happens to function as a radio antenna and picks up hiss and static from the electromagnetic waves we are surrounded by. This is why balanced cable connections were invented, to neutralize the hiss and static picked up by lengths of wire such as speaker cables (or anywhere in an audio chain).

Some speakers, such as the Mackie HR824 self-powered/amplified studio reference monitors, allow (have the internal electronics to implement) a balanced input connection to a balanced output port of an audio interface, which rids the sound of much unwanted hiss and static.

You can learn more online about balanced audio components, outputs and inputs, and the TRS (tip/ring/sleeve) and XLR cables used by balanced audio connections.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

I have the following setup:  Laptop ---> UCA222 (USB) ---> Mackie CR4 (unbalanced connection). And the Kawai ES110 is connected to laptop directly by Midi to USB.

Where would you say the static is coming from, would a USB isolator - for the UCA222 and midi connection - help in reducing the static?

EvilDragon wrote:

Either way when you get crackles in the output it is NOT good no matter how you call it. And this can happen with volume slider set too high, or limiter set up too aggressively.

I guess this is why it functions locally to each piano, rather than globally.

You mean the limiter? Yeah, but you can also set it to a particular setting then freeze its parameters, so it's global.

Either way when you get crackles in the output it is NOT good no matter how you call it. And this can happen with volume slider set too high, or limiter set up too aggressively.

I guess this is why it functions locally to each piano, rather than globally.

if I turn the slider down on PT and volume up on the speakers, I get high pitch static sound when I put my ears near the speakers. Anyone know what might be causing this?

Sometimes hiss or static is caused by the internal circuitry of a not-too-good amplifier, which sounds worse the higher one turns the signal output at the amp, but it is also often caused by the fact that an audio cable between the amplifier and the speakers also happens to function as a radio antenna and picks up hiss and static from the electromagnetic waves we are surrounded by. This is why balanced cable connections were invented, to neutralize the hiss and static picked up by lengths of wire such as speaker cables (or anywhere in an audio chain).

Some speakers, such as the Mackie HR824 self-powered/amplified studio reference monitors, allow (have the internal electronics to implement) a balanced input connection to a balanced output port of an audio interface, which rids the sound of much unwanted hiss and static.

You can learn more online about balanced audio components, outputs and inputs, and the TRS (tip/ring/sleeve) and XLR cables used by balanced audio connections.

But what's the difference say;

- if I put the slider down and increase volume on my laptop + increase volume of the studio monitors, vs

- putting the slider up (e.g. +5db) and decreasing the volume on my monitors + laptop?

I only bought this yesterday, so sorry for noob questions and Google didn't prove as helpful (blame him/it xD).