I come from an analog world where, granted, things were much simpler and we had fewer options, but what was pretty consistent was that things reliably worked. Rush into the studio on fire with inspiration, throw a couple of switches, roll tape and capture it. Nowadays, you never know what's waiting for you that you're going to spend an aggravating amount of time trying to figure out, at which point the inspiration is gone.
My latest buzz-kill is a brand new CP40 I spent hours yesterday trying to get a clean, undistorted signal out of. I'm on "01:CF St," (doesn't matter, any instrument setting does it), no effects, flat EQ, going into a PreSonus board with input gain set so the meter peaks halfway up (not even close to clipping), the meter on the track in my DAW showing the same. I've adjusted my gain in the 02:Part/01:Play Mode setting as far down as as 50 after reading the post at https://www.yamahasynth.com/forum/cp4-distortion-on-piano-sounds-with-volume-turned-up, but it still distorts when I get even mildly aggressive. It does this as well on headphones straight out of the piano, and on powered studio monitors straight out of the piano (no board, DAW, etc, in between).
I've got a couple of weeks left before the return window expires and as much as I love the sound of this piano when played softly, it's of no use to me when a forte piece causes break-up. In the afore mentioned post it was suggested that the piano be taken to a technician, so my questions are:
1: Is there something else I can try to get this resolved?
2: Should I order another in the hope that it will be different, or is this a consistent problem?
3: Is this something a technician can actually, reliably correct, or am I going to exceed the return window only to find out I've made a 1500.00 mistake?
I'd like to get busy here.
Thanks for any help.
Cayce
1: Is there something else I can try to get this resolved?
Try resetting the instrument:
The Factory Set function can be used to restore your stage piano’s User Memory to its initial condition. When executed, all Performances and Utility settings stored in User Memory will be returned to their defaults. This can prove useful when you have accidentally overwritten some of the User Memory’s default Performances and Utility settings.
NOTICE
When the Factory Set function is executed, all Performances and Utility settings currently stored in User Memory will be overwritten with their defaults. It is wise, therefore, to regularly create backup copies of important data on a USB flash-memory device or the like (see page 39 in the Owner's Manual).
Performing the Factory Set
Press [UTILITY]
Cursor down to 07: Job
Press [ENTER]
Job: Factory Set
Press [ENTER] > [YES]
Let us know the results (we are only concerned in the sound over directly connected headphones at this point). If the sound is clean in headphones, then and only then, connect it to your gear. This will help troubleshoot several important things. Also please be specific about the particular Voice (as you should know, some of the sounds have Distortion built-in with Effects - we need to know if the Distortion you are hearing is supposed to be there or not). You mentioned both an acoustic piano, but you also refer to electronic piano... we need to know what sound, specifically, you're dealing with...
Questions 2 and 3 will greatly depend on what happens above. I don't know what happened to the previous poster, as he never returned. And I can only follow through if I know where in the world the poster is, I did not hear anything from the Customer Support folks so I assume they solved their issue. please let us know if this solves your issue or not (asap) and we maybe able to help you get this sorted... to think anything but that your dealer (music store) or Yamaha (who will stand behind that dealer) wants you to be anything but extremely happy, you're wrong. Just make sure you let someone know.
Let us know how you make out after the reset. Again direct headphone connection is critical.
Thanks for getting back to me on this. I failed to mention in my list of things tried that I'd already looked up how do do a factory reset and had done so. It still distorts with headphones. As for possible impedance issues, often a concern, I'm using Sony MDR-7509 Professional studio headphones, which should be fine.
Even if you tried it before, please try again and test with direct headphone connection.
Also make sure you are using the proper Yamaha power supply (using the wrong power supplies can degrade the sound).
I'd love to assist you further, but since you still don't mention where in the world you are, I can only highly recommend you contact either your music dealer or Yamaha (contact info in the back of the Manual), immediately.