Hammering noise in Juno DS 76

[ProphetV]

I have a Juno DS 76 since 5 months. Haven't been crazy about the piano sounds like many of you and have preferred to use my Hammond SK1 for pianos. Took the time recently to investigate since the piano sound in You Tube reviews and tests sound absolutely brilliant and thought there was a quick fix but no :(

While playing a piano patch I noticed a thumping sound, almost like hammering but muffled sound. Tried other piano patches (Grand, Wurly) which had the same noise. Listening and testing further I have noticed that this sound is present in most patches with a distinct attack. It's not present in strings or pads. It's extra distinct and clear in the upper octaves but can be heard all over the keyboard. I have tried different speakers and monitor, have changed the cables but it's still there. Funny thing is I connected the Juno DS to my computer/Cubase and the sound is perfect and crystal clear when I record in a midi track, but the noise is still present when recording audio track (through USB).

I have tried with and without EQ, disabling all effects and performed a factory restore but no success.

I'm going crazy! Any ideas?

Tomas

[anotherscott]

Funny thing is I connected the Juno DS to my computer/Cubase and the sound is perfect and crystal clear when I record in a midi track, but the noise is still present when recording audio track (through USB).

MIDI tracks contain no audio at all. So when you say the sound is perfect when you record MIDI into Cubase, the question is, what you are listening to when you play that track back? If the piano sounds different when you play back the Cubase track then when you play on the Juno itself, I'd say there are three possibilties: 1. When you play your MIDI file in Cubase, you are listening to sounds from some device other than your Juno DS, or 2. you are listening to your Juno, but not with the same sound that you use when you played it (maybe a GM sound?), or 3. the fact that you're not actually playing the keys during playback means you are no longer hearing the in-the-room mechanical sounds of fingers actually hitting keys.

[ProphetV]

Hi anotherscott :)
Thanks for answering. Well, I haven't investigated further in the midi thing since the problem is the audio. But the Juno is the only thing connected to Cubase. Could be your alternative 2

Anyway, it's not the mechanical sounds from hitting the keys since the noise (let's call it just that) is there while playing live at loud volume whether it's my keyboard amplifier, monitors or headphones. I have recorded a couple of patches from the Juno as audio tracks in Cubase and the thump is very evident. Sounds almost crappy. Tried to attach a wav file here but it's not allowed apparently :(

[tommyman]

I always go with anotherscott's advice - very knowledgeable, and has helped me in many situations. A possible variation on what he said could be that the knock is part of the intentional emulation of the hammer hitting the string in the patch - but when you are recording MIDI, you are creating a midi-loop and hearing two of the exact same sound, but with the very slight MIDI delay, you are hearing them out of phase, which is thinning the sound out, and thereby eliminating that thump you don't like (which is mostly low frequency in content, exactly the frequencies that you lose in out-of-phase situations)?
A way to test that would be to turn Local Switch OFF (Menu/Utility/MIDI) and then record into Cubase. If the 'undesirable' sound has come back, then the above is a possible explanation. Alternatively you could turn Midi Echo OFF in Cubase and leave Local Switch ON on the synth, if you know where that is. I'm not a Cubase guy so I don't. :)

[tommyman]

Another thought: is that knocking sound that seems wrong present when you listen with headphones? thanks.