Topic: How can I eliminate hissing noise from DP's speakers?

Currently, I'm running Pianoteq Standalone on a laptop, outputting audio from the laptop's headphone jack to the "audio in" jack of my digital piano.

This is probably not the proper way to do such a set up, but since it works I've neglected to make changes.

However, I can no longer live with the humming/static-y noise coming from the digital piano's speakers. It's not super loud or anything, but it's been driving me crazy - especially at night.

How can I eliminate this noise? Would it help at all to invest in a USB audio interface? I thought that it wasn't necessary to use an external audio interface unless there's a latency issue...? I'd like to point out that this problem is not as noticeable when playing with headphones (plugged into the digital piano) nor does it happen when I disconnect the laptop completely and play using the internal sounds.

Thanks for your help!

Last edited by Khoa (23-01-2017 08:04)

Re: How can I eliminate hissing noise from DP's speakers?

Running the headphone output from your laptop into the digital piano's line-in is going to cause a lot of noise for two reasons:

1) Your laptop has an inferior digital-to-audio converter
2) A headphone output is not supposed to be connected to a line-level input. It could be an impedance and signal-level mismatch. Your digital piano may have different kinds of inputs. You haven't said.

Yes, you will get better sound quality and lower noise with a good quality USB audio interface. But there are many models out there with many different features.

You also have to take into account what kind of inputs the digital piano has for an external sound source, in terms of signal level and impedance. You have to consult your owner's manual and take note of the specifications. Then you need an external USB audio interface which can put out the correct kind of audio signal to send to your digital piano's external inputs. You can't just hook up cables into this port or that port and expect it to sound good. You have to know what you are doing.

If I were you I would go to a music store (knowing the make and model name and full specifications of your digital piano) and find a knowledgeable person in the live audio department who can explain to you what kind of USB audio interface to buy and which ports to hook up to get the best sound.

Last edited by Wheat Williams (04-02-2017 04:31)
Dayton, Ohio, United States of America
macOS 10.14.6 Mojave • Apple MacBook Pro (2017), no Touch Bar • 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5, 2 core • 8GB RAM