Topic by Gilles

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Topic: Yamaha P-80 keyboard noise

I have been playing on my P-80 for very long, and grown used to its noisy keyboard, because that's probably the only thing I don't like about it. The keyboard is noisy because it is a portable instrument made to be played on stage where key noise is not a problem, but when used at home, the noise is very audible.

I sort of filter it myself most of the time, but, when demonstrating the wonders of pianoteq to people not familiar with electronic keyboards, the key noise is all they hear sometimes...

I know some forum members still use this great keyboard, and I would like to know if they found a cure for it, or just ignore the clickety-clack.

The noise seems mostly to come from the frame resonating when a key falls back in place after being hit, and if I press on the frame near the key, it becomes a bit less apparent, but it is still there.

This is a graded hammer keyboard where a weight brings back the key in place, there are no springs involved.

Maybe adding some kind of felt absorbing material similar to what exists in real pianos might help, but I would rather ask before trying to open the keyboard. In fact adding absorbing material might interfere with the actual velocity sent back.

It might be that my unit has always been faulty (it was bought quite early in the production) but Yamaha usually does not sell bad units.

I uploaded a small example of the keyboard noise (normalized to 0dB) so as to demonstrate what I hear.

Maybe our expert piano technician (Philippe) has an opinion on this...

Reply by Beto-Music

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Re: Yamaha P-80 keyboard noise

I don't know if this is helpfull, but my Roland F-90 speaker make a noise that I notice only in during one specific key sound, and almost exclusive in YC5 add-on.

Not the speaker itself, but a in a fine metal protective gride in front of it. If a place the point of my finger in this gride the noise stop.
This happen only in the left speakers protection gride. Perhaps this grid it's not placed as firm as the other rom right speaker.

Some specific frequencies seens to affect some metal pieces.

Reply by moshuajusic

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Re: Yamaha P-80 keyboard noise

Ummm, CRANK IT UP! That's the fun solution.

Anyway, it's the worn-out foam cushion the hammers fall back on. Call Yamaha's parts dept and see if you can get a new foam strip. OR...

Tell them you're having problems with the keys, like they're warping or something, and they may send you a whole new action, FREE. They've been doing this for P80 owners (like myself).

PS - Pianoteq makes key noises, too. I personally find it a bit distracting during pianissimo passages. So you might wanna dial down the "key release noise" as well.

Last edited by moshuajusic (18-10-2009 22:08)
Étude "I Does This" in B minor

Reply by Gilles

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Re: Yamaha P-80 keyboard noise

joshuasethcomposer wrote:

Ummm, CRANK IT UP! That's the fun solution.

Anyway, it's the worn-out foam cushion the hammers fall back on. Call Yamaha's parts dept and see if you can get a new foam strip. OR...

Tell them you're having problems with the keys, like they're warping or something, and they may send you a whole new action, FREE. They've been doing this for P80 owners (like myself).

PS - Pianoteq makes key noises, too. I personally find it a bit distracting during pianissimo passages. So you might wanna dial down the "key release noise" as well.

Thanks for your reply. Cranking up is a bit out of the question since I use headphones mostly...

I did go to a local retail store that sells and services Yamaha keyboards, and the technician, though he couldn't find the service manual since it is so old, told me that probably the original design was a bit faulty since I always heard some key noise and that there was no noisier spot in the most used keys.

I tried a couple of more recent keyboards and they are quieter but also much lighter in touch.

I finally opened up the thing myself, and it was easy to see that indeed the foam cushion were worn out and that the weight on the key was bouncing back quite a bit instead of just being damped by the foam.

Foam is not very trusty for this (the upper part has thick felt to absorb the down key impact) and also the action has to be taken apart to replace the foam strip.

So I tried something which works quite well. Since keys are in groups of two or three separated by a vertical division, I clipped little 1"X1.5"  rectangles from an old polar fleece scarf that I didn't need, and just dropped them on top of the foam, being held in place by the key weights.

This really works well, and on top of that the scarf was a nice chinese red making it look like real piano felt...

Now I just have to remember not to put the keyboard upside down since the little pieces might then get loose...

Last edited by Gilles (20-10-2009 22:36)

Reply by moshuajusic

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Re: Yamaha P-80 keyboard noise

I didn't need to take apart the action to replace the foam in mine. Just turn he whole thing over. The cushion is actually attached from underneath.

Étude "I Does This" in B minor

Reply by Gilles

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Re: Yamaha P-80 keyboard noise

joshuasethcomposer wrote:

I didn't need to take apart the action to replace the foam in mine. Just turn he whole thing over. The cushion is actually attached from underneath.

That's good to know. I didn't check the cushion attachement, I just took the technician's word who told me he'd have to take it apart.