I've written about this before. The buzzing I hear is noticeable on the default Grand Piano patch and even more noticeable on the Rock Piano patch.

Starting on the Db below middle C (a major 7th below middle C) and traveling downward by half steps to the Ab a perfect fourth below, you'll head the buzz in question. That buzz exists in 2 three note samples - a total of six notes.

If you're playing chords it's rather unlikely you'll even get down that far but when playing lines that buzz is noticeable. I have the CP300 setup in my living room and am using headphones. Anytime I play a run using those notes that buzz jumps out at me. I'm reasonably certain that buzz wouldn't be noticeable on jobs, but it's annoying when playing at home ... and using headphones.

(FWIW, I don't hear that buzz on the Grand Piano 2 patch, but then I never use it since the default GP sounds better. On jobs I'll either use the Mellow Grand which also has that buzz or use the default GP and take some of its brightness off.)

Am I alone in hearing this? ... and it really would be great if just once in a while someone high up at Yamaha would comment.

you sure it's not frequencies overloading your headphones?

No, I always hear it and even at very low volume. The buzz exists in those 2 three note samples. I hear it through my Bose 802s as well - it's in the piano.

On jobs (playing with a trio) I rarely hear it since I'm playing chords with my left hand.

Have you written an email to Yamaha?

I don't know how useful the response from a drug user at Yamaha would be, but to each their own.

Never had this problem with my CP300, sorry to hear it is happening.

You're in weird mood...first the Sand Man deal, then this.

Joe P, meet Sven. Sven, Joe P

Do you hear it as the note fades out? I used to hear high-end digital noise when every note would fade out on my old P50-m. Hasn't Yamaha always had a problem with the decay of their piano samples? Either they don't sustain long enough or there's digital noise?

This buzz is in the sample of those notes.

If anyone here who is following this thread owns a CP300, try the Rock Piano patch and simply play a chromatic run that includes those six notes. The buzz is very obvious ... well, it is to me. I find it distracting but again, it's only when playing solo and when runs are played using those notes. In actual combo playing you wouldn't play chords that low so you would never encounter it.

The problem is in the samples and I hear it as soon as the note sounds. I'm playing fast runs and the buzz stands out on those six notes.

I don't have the CP300, but is the buzz in a certain velocity range, or is it in every velocity range?

I hear noise and other artifacts in the Motif piano samples that would be unacceptable in a truly exposed performance situation.

I'll have to play and listen closely to another CP300 to see if I hear the problem DH describes.

Maybe Yamaha doesn't really expect pianists to go naked with their DPs and ROMplers.

I hear it whether I'm playing softly or loud. If I have the time I'll record a chromatic run and put the mp3 file at my site.

I'd be interested in hearing it

Copyright it first. That has been a sticky subject around here lately.

It's probably no big deal. I'd just hate for your buzzy chromatic run to get lifted and become a hit a la 4'33".

Mine hasn't been out of its case in probably a month but when this next student leaves I'll throw it up on the stand and check it out. Db below middle C to Ab you say.

OK, I uploaded an mp3 file of the Rock Piano patch. I choose the Rock Piano because it's more noticeable for me to hear that buzz on that patch. I listened to the mp3 I made and the buzz is not all that noticeable though I can hear it much better on my own piano through good quality headphones (Sony MDR-V600). CP300_RockPiano.mp3

I played an F chromatic scale - one octave. The buzzy notes in question are Ab, A, Bb, B, C, Db. So, the first three notes you hear will be OK and the last three notes of that F chromatic scale will also be OK.

I'll repeat this - I have a hard time hearing it on this mp3 file but can clearly hear it when I'm playing runs on my CP300. Don't let this mp3 be the final word - check out a CP300 in a store and use headphones - headphones with a good high end.

I take back what I said regarding velocity - when I play very softly I don't hear that buzz. At normal playing velocity, it is apparent.

I'm hearing an irritating high frequency in the middle notes of the run. A synthetic high (no pun intended) which may be the nature of the sample. Is that what you're calling a buzz? It may not be as noticeable if it was played softer... if that's what you're hearing.

Whatever it is, it's high frequency and buzz like. I doubt if that noise existed in the original piano but for some reason those two 3 note samples are 'infected'.

There are also two 3 note samples on my GranTouch that are off. In the upper end of the piano there are two 3 note samples (not sequential) that sound out of tune but only when the sustain pedal is depressed. This is very easy to hear. Just press down the sustain pedal and play a chromatic run in the top two octaves. It is annoying to me but makes the piano sound 'real' since it's very slightly out of tune.

The thought in the back of my mind - Yamaha intentionally flaws several samples to make it easier to detect when illegal copies are made. I also heard this flaw in a GranTouch2 (GT2); I own the older version.

It sounds like that's what I heard. A high frequency electric sound - but I don't know if you'd call it "infected" or just a flaw in the change of frequencies at that range on the keyboard, as it goes from middle to lower tones.

Steve, try a CP300 with good headphones and you'll hear exactly what I hear. Since I have tinnitus I almost always practice with headphones at a very soft level; higher quality headphones are less forgiving than speakers.

Many years ago I sent a letter to Yamaha in Japan regarding my GT1 and a tech called me from Germany. I actually played the piano for him over the phone. I never heard back. I find it unbelievable that no one at Yamaha ever noticed that flaw.

I've never read anything about it. I think it's just Yamaha's way of 'marking' their territory.

Jeez, that thing's heavy!

I didn't hear what you are referring to Dave. I didn't get a chance to listen to your MP3 but on mine, the GP 1, Mellow P and Rock Piano were not making any buzzing noises. I'm usually pretty sensitive to that kind of thing, also I just upgraded to a new pair of AKG K240s a few weeks back has my original 240s bit the dust.

I bought my CP300 new almost exactly a year ago, I know you've had your 300 longer, so maybe it's a bug that Yamaha "quietly fixed".

Back in the case for another month, man that thing's heavy! I think there's an echo in here.

Well, I have the headphones...

But I heard it instantly. Hard for me to believe Yamaha would degrade the sound intentionally, unless it's their attempt to artificially infuse some missing highs in lower tones. But I didn't find it extremely objectionable.

I hear it, and I've heard it in other Yamaha piano samples.

I have tinnitus so I have to deal with my own high frequency sounds but I couldn't really hear anything out of the ordinary other than normal 'electronic' samples that don't sound like a real piano.

But Dave, I have to admit that I was amused that you would even 'swing' your chromatic run sample?

My cp is still in the case from a gig but I will pull it out tomorrow and try that rock piano patch.

I have heard similiar things on Yamaha's. I think it may be on my CP300 also!
lb

On the Ab to Db I can hear a high pitched attack transient that follows the pitch, most noticeable on the fast chromatic run. To me it sounds like an atonal transient or rattle that has become tonal by being sampled and stretched over the note sample range. I can't really hear any buzz that you wouldn't hear if you shoved your head under the lid of a grand piano. My grand piano has a variety of intermittent buzzes and artifacts - not surprising now that she is 72 years old...

In that note range the frame bridge crosses over the dampers. Often one or more dampers are shorter than normal and this can affect the note release, giving a longer release and sometimes a bit of a buzz or rattle if the note is very loud as the heavy string bounces off the damper a bit before settling down. Maybe this is what you are hearing?

I play trumpet in orchestras frequently. You get buzzes, breathing, coughs, questionable intonation, whispering, key and valve noise, page turns, bad jokes, mute rattles etc etc. The listener usually just tunes it out when heard live, but once you record it can stand out like the proverbial dogs b*lls.

Last weekend we had a piano soloist playing Beethovens Piano Concerto No. Two. Even from 12 yards away at the back of the orchestra I could hear artifacts such as key thump, damper release etc in unaccompanied passages. Welcome to the world of real musical instruments!

Michael

I think that smiley is responsible for half of your posts, Sven. And I still don't know what it means...