Headphone Out on Casio Piano

[Hewbacca]

Hope this is the right place to post this.

I have a Casio CDP-S150 digital piano, with a "audio out" port as the only option to get analog audio out. This port drives headphones great, and sounds great doing so. As soon as I connect it to an audio interface, the sound degrades drastically. I have tried two different audio interfaces, and every combination of settings I can (there aren't that many). I am not clipping, I have tried gain lower, the volume on the piano lower, selecting the input as an "instrument" and not ("instrument" adds hiss and pops, "not" doesn't). I have tried two different 3.5mm cables. I am primarily using a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 but I have also tried a Behringer USB audio interface with identical results. The sound is poor both on the direct monitor port on the interface, and the audio that is being sent to the computer. All indications are that the piano is sending out terrible audio when connected to an interface, and the interface is doing its job perfectly reproducing that terrible audio into both my headphones and to whatever software I am using on the computer.

I am out of ideas. The only conclusion I can draw is that the amplifier in the piano is somehow ruining the sound but I don't understand why when I directly connect headphones it sounds so good.

Any ideas how I can get the audio I am hearing in the headphones into my interface? I can use the piano as a MIDI device but that is sort of not addressing the issue at all, I would really like to use the piano's analog audio. Thanks in advance.

 

[Curvature]

This piano? https://www.casio.com/intl/electronic-musical-instruments/product.CDP-S150BK/ Why not use USB?

Try measuring the analog output using REW.

 

[Hewbacca]

This piano? https://www.casio.com/intl/electronic-musical-instruments/product.CDP-S150BK/ Why not use USB?

Try measuring the analog output using REW.

Yes that piano. How do I get analog audio over USB? I can get MIDI over USB but that is not analog audio (or any audio).

Can you expand on how REW helps? I am 100% certain the sound is not the same between driving headphones directly, and through an interface. It's extremely noticeable.

 

[Curvature]

How do I get analog audio over USB?

I just looked at the manual. It seems USB is limited to MIDI, which is a shame. I assumed you could send digital audio out through USB and record it in a DAW.

Can you expand on how REW helps? I am 100% certain the sound is not the same between driving headphones directly, and through an interface. It's extremely noticeable.

Use the RTA screen to capture the analog output into your interface. It's strange that you are getting distortion (if it's that).

Are you sure it's not a ground loop?

 

[Hewbacca]

I have heard ground loops before, it is not like that. It is not noise or buzzing, it is like listening to the audio compressed to 64kbps when the headphones connected directly are getting 320kbps. I know that's not it, but it sounds compressed more than distorted.

I have a theory that it is related to the audio out port sending a stereo signal, and the interface expecting mono. When using the direct monitor port on the interface, when I select mono I hear sound through both channels, but when I select stereo I only hear it through the left channel. However when connecting headphones directly to the piano I hear two channels, so that makes me think the piano is sending out stereo sound. I have no idea why this would cause the sound quality to degrade, or how to fix it. I may be going down completely the wrong path but something tells me the problem is related to this.

 

[Curvature]

Are you able to make a short recording?

 

[Dimitri]

You didn't describe how you are connecting the piano to the interface, Are you feeding each channel seperately into the interface ? Try using a Y connector so you are sending sound to the headphone and the interface at the same time.

 

[Geert]

The cable you're using, does it have XLR or jack connectors? If they are jack's, are they mono jack's? If they are stereo, do they have the ring or pin connected to ground?

 

[Robert C]

I have a theory that it is related to the audio out port sending a stereo signal, and the interface expecting mono. When using the direct monitor port on the interface, when I select mono I hear sound through both channels, but when I select stereo I only hear it through the left channel. However when connecting headphones directly to the piano I hear two channels, so that makes me think the piano is sending out stereo sound. I have no idea why this would cause the sound quality to degrade, or how to fix it. I may be going down completely the wrong path but something tells me the problem is related to this.

Sounds like you might have a stereo / mono mismatch. How are you connecting the piano to the interface?

 

[tomtoo]

What cable,adapters you use exactly?
I have the feeling its just a cabel problem.

 

[Hewbacca]

Are you able to make a short recording?

- and before you say it sounds fine, it sounds so much better and different directly connected. Listen to something like this to hear the difference

It is also worth noting that I had to set my software to use the interface as a mono device, otherwise the piano audio only plays out of the left channel.

You didn't describe how you are connecting the piano to the interface, Are you feeding each channel seperately into the interface ? Try using a Y connector so you are sending sound to the headphone and the interface at the same time.

3.5mm male into the piano, 3.5mm male into a 1/4" adapter into the interface. The interface can accept XLR or 1/4" (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2). I do not have a Y connector, but isn't that the point of the direct monitor port on interfaces?

The cable you're using, does it have XLR or jack connectors? If they are jack's, are they mono jack's? If they are stereo, do they have the ring or pin connected to ground?

Both cables I've tried are 3.5mm to 3.5mm, and both are "TRRS" I believe, they have two black rings.

 

[Hewbacca]

I agree with several of you that I think this is a stereo/mono thing. So maybe some basic education is in order. Can audio interfaces only take mono inputs? That would make sense to me for instruments, but not for mics, in which capturing two channels could be beneficial for things like positioning to come through. How does the interface know whether something is mono or stereo? What power do I have over this in order to fix it? The piano does not let me specify what comes out.

 

[Curvature]

Are you plugging your cable into just one of the jacks on the front?

 

[Hewbacca]

Are you plugging your cable into just one of the jacks on the front?

View attachment 229306

Yes. 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter, to the instrument 1 input (or 2, same result).

 

[Robert C]

I agree with several of you that I think this is a stereo/mono thing. So maybe some basic education is in order. Can audio interfaces only take mono inputs? That would make sense to me for instruments, but not for mics, in which capturing two channels could be beneficial for things like positioning to come through. How does the interface know whether something is mono or stereo? What power do I have over this in order to fix it? The piano does not let me specify what comes out.

From your interface's manual:

Set the LINE/INST switch next to the socket to INST if you are connecting a musical instrument (a guitar in the example) via an ordinary 2-pole (TS) guitar jack, or to LINE if you are connecting a line level source such as the balanced output of a stage piano via a 3-pole (TRS) jack. Note the Combo connector accepts both TRS and TS types of jack plug.

I don't own the interface, but it looks like you need a 1/4" stereo (TRS) jack cable to go from your piano to the interface. If you're using an adaptor, that too needs to be TRS.

 

[Robert C]

Stagg 3.55mm Stereo to 1/4 Inch Stereo Jack Cable, 3m at Gear4music

Stagg 3.55mm Stereo to 1/4 Inch Stereo Jack Cable, 3m at Gear4music

www.gear4music.com

 

[AnalogSteph]

If you connect an unbalanced stereo output to a balanced input, you only get the difference signal (L-R) out. You need a Y splitter cable 3.5 mm stereo to 2x 1/4" TRS (like the above) or 2x XLR.

 

[Hewbacca]

From your interface's manual:

Set the LINE/INST switch next to the socket to INST if you are connecting a musical instrument (a guitar in the example) via an ordinary 2-pole (TS) guitar jack, or to LINE if you are connecting a line level source such as the balanced output of a stage piano via a 3-pole (TRS) jack. Note the Combo connector accepts both TRS and TS types of jack plug.

I don't own the interface, but it looks like you need a 1/4" stereo (TRS) jack cable to go from your piano to the interface. If you're using an adaptor, that too needs to be TRS.

That is what I am using. 3.5mm TRS to 3.5mm TRS to a 1/4" TRS adapter.

 

[Hewbacca]

If you connect an unbalanced stereo output to a balanced input, you only get the difference signal (L-R) out. You need a Y splitter cable 3.5 mm stereo to 2x 1/4" TRS (like the above) or 2x XLR.

So how would that work, I am using both instrument inputs on the interface for one instrument? Can you help me understand a bit better what you're saying? Is the interface only intended to be used with balanced sources, or is it the stereo output that is the problem? What would happen if I had an electric guitar?

 

[Robert C]

The inputs are mono. So you need to do as @AnalogSteph suggests and use something like this:

Stagg SYC Stereo Jack to Dual Mono Jack Cable 3m/10ft | GAK

Buy Stagg SYC Stereo Jack to Dual Mono Jack Cable (3m/10ft) - SYC3/PS2P E online from GAK.co.uk. Unbeatable prices and next day delivery from the UK's no1 instrument store. Order Today.

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An electric guitar is mono, so you'd use one input.