Topic by shooter

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Topic: A4 & E6 Sound Painful In P6

I upgraded from P5 Stage to P6 Stage last night and was looking forward to a more realistic experience (not that P5 was bad).  I use a Kawai VPC1 and Sennheiser HD 598.  To my disappointment, A4 & E6 make a sharp ping sound as if the hammer was made out of metal.  In P5, I never tweaked anything.  I would just turn it on and start playing, but in P6, I'm trying to tweak settings to get rid of that harshness.  At first, I thought it may be the keys on my VPC1, but I don't have that problem in P5.

Reply by jcfelice88keys

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Re: A4 & E6 Sound Painful In P6

Hello Mr. Shooter,

You did not mention any specific instrument as making a sharp pinging sound on A4 and E6.  Does it happen with all Ptq6 models or specific instruments?

Reply by shooter

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Re: A4 & E6 Sound Painful In P6

Thanks the reply.  The Steinway and K2 both have this.  The "Intimate" is somewhat softer but still noticeable.  I have turned down the volume to -3db(it was getting up in the red) and that helped soften it some, but it is still noticeable.

Reply by marcos daniel

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Re: A4 & E6 Sound Painful In P6

Very strange... may be a resonance of your headphones?
Try changing the pitch from 440 to another figure...

Reply by shooter

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Re: A4 & E6 Sound Painful In P6

marcos daniel wrote:

Very strange... may be a resonance of your headphones?
Try changing the pitch from 440 to another figure...

Good idea.  I'll try that.  Maybe the P6 is so much more clear than P5 that I'm just now noticing the nuances of each note.

Reply by shooter

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Re: A4 & E6 Sound Painful In P6

marcos daniel wrote:

Very strange... may be a resonance of your headphones?
Try changing the pitch from 440 to another figure...

Nope.  Didn't work.  Still there.  The more I play it the more I wonder if the surrounding keys are just more dull because the keys well below middle C are sounding more metallic. Then again, it could be my mind playing tricks on me now that I'm trying to figure it out. 
I'll plug in some KRK Rokit 6's into it tonight and see if it's coming through on those also.  That would suck if I have to go back to Version 5.

Reply by jcfelice88keys

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Re: A4 & E6 Sound Painful In P6

shooter wrote:

Thanks the reply.  <...> I have turned down the volume to -3db(it was getting up in the red) and that helped soften it some, but it is still noticeable.

My usual practice is to set Pianoteq (Version 5 and 6) master volume slider to about -6dB.  Sometimes, but not always, I set the dynamic range slider to ~30dB (the exact value is not set in stone), so I don't have to work quite as hard to render a very musical experience.  In this way, my soft tones are still quite soft, and the loudest tones don't go into the red zone as often as when the Dynamic Range slider is in the 36dB to 40dB range found in some of the stock settings.

Hope this helps,

Joe

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Re: A4 & E6 Sound Painful In P6

jcfelice88keys wrote:
shooter wrote:

Thanks the reply.  <...> I have turned down the volume to -3db(it was getting up in the red) and that helped soften it some, but it is still noticeable.

My usual practice is to set Pianoteq (Version 5 and 6) master volume slider to about -6dB.  Sometimes, but not always, I set the dynamic range slider to ~30dB (the exact value is not set in stone), so I don't have to work quite as hard to render a very musical experience.  In this way, my soft tones are still quite soft, and the loudest tones don't go into the red zone as often as when the Dynamic Range slider is in the 36dB to 40dB range found in some of the stock settings.

Hope this helps,


Joe

Ok, that actually helped a lot. The E5 sounds like the rest of the keys now. The A4 no longer has that harsh edge to it but it is still noticeably louder than the surrounding keys.

Last edited by shooter (13-12-2017 01:15)

Reply by NathanShirley

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Re: A4 & E6 Sound Painful In P6

You might also play around with a subtle EQ. I find reducing the highest frequencies just a little with a gentle curve can sometimes take that bright edge off nicely. These overtones are so high they start to hit the upper limit of my ability to hear. It would make sense that different people (and different ages) would be much more/less sensitive to different high frequencies.

~ Nathan Shirley

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Reply by peterws

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Re: A4 & E6 Sound Painful In P6

shooter wrote:

I'll plug in some KRK Rokit 6's into it tonight and see if it's coming through on those also.  That would suck if I have to go back to Version 5.

5's not THAT bad!  I tried 6 trial and I still can't figure it out having attempted similar settings and stuff.  Maybe 7'll be better; long wait comin' up . .   ha ha

I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order