I sent the following message to General Music technical support yesterday...they have yet to respond and I was wondering if anyone on this forum has any ideas about this issue:

I'm having a problem with my Promega3...one of the keys is having an odd sound problem, it sounds like a sharp vibration and has a terrible tone to it...I was wondering if you had any ideas as to how to fix this problem. I tried reseting the system all 3 ways as described on General Music's website...I am also interested in updating the operating system (I am not sure what version I have right now but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have the most recent update); however, when I tried to get information about the update from www.generalmusic.us I just got an error no matter what I tried. So my questions are as follows:

1. First, does anyone have any ideas about the key problem?

2. Secondly, is there a chance updating the OS would remedy the situation?

3. Lastly, how do I go about updating the OS regardless of the key problem?

Thank you for your help in this matter,

Andrew



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"But, you can't stand on a synthesizer." --Billy Joel

Hi Andrew,

I received your e-mail to support@generalmusic.us at 2:07am on 29 December 2004 and sent you a response at 8:43am on 29 December 2004. I am sorry if you did not receive my response but I checked my system and it shows as delivered. In case you really didn't receive my response here is a copy of the content of that e-mail;

Hello Andrew,

Sorry to hear you are having these problems. I will forward your e-mail to our technical service manager Artie Specht so he can help resolve this issue and if necessary direct you to the appropriate service center. You listed your location as San Diego, KY 40517. Is this correct? If not, please contact Artie at aspecht@generalmusic.us and give him you correct location.

Best Regards,

Dave McMahan

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Wm. David McMahan
Nat'l Product and Support Manager
Generalmusic USA

[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 12-29-2004).]

Thanks for the reply, yes I know you emailed me back quite promptly, however as I await a response from Mr. Specht I thought that someone on this forum may be able to help...thanks.

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"But, you can't stand on a synthesizer." --Billy Joel

No problem. I just wanted to be sure that you did receive my response. FYI: Our offices are closed until 3 November 2005 for the holiday.

Please be more specific in your description of the problems.

[*]Is this sharp vibration sound you refer to isolated to just one particular preset or does it occur on all presets from all sound sections?

[*]Have you disabled the reverb and pro EFX to see if the problem is present with a dry sound?

[*]Does the problem only occur through external amplification or through headphones or both?

Maybe we can isolate the problem a bit if you answer these questions.

Best Regards,

Dave


[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 12-29-2004).]

Well, your questions were very helpful...after some fiddling with my setup it seems that the problem does not lie with the Promega3 itself, it is somewhere in the amplification. I am very inexperienced with all things amplification, but I'll try to explain what's going on. I run my piano sound cables to an amp/mixer combo (a very old Yamaha, but it seems to work) and then to a set of speakers. I unplugged the cable that goes to the back of the piano and plugged in a new set of Sennheiser headphones I got for Christmas As you may well have suspected, the vibrating noise was gone (and incidently, the piano sound was much better.) This isolated the problem to:
1) the Promega output jack
2) the mixer/amp
3) the speakers
4) or one of the cables

To further isolate the issue, I unplugged the speaker cables from the mixer/amp, plugged the headphones into the mixer/amp output, and once again routed a cable from the Promega3 to the mixer/amp. The problem again was no longer present. This meant that I could eliminate possibilies 1 and 2, there's obviously nothing wrong with the piano and probably not the amp either. I then tested each speaker individually hooked up to the mixer/amp, and found that the problem was actually only in one speaker, meaning that it was either that speaker or the cable going to it from the amp. I replaced the cable with one that I know is good and the problem still occurred, which left me with only the speaker, which is obviously blown or something, but at any rate at least I know I need to replace it.
So, in summary, thanks for asking the right questions and resolving my issue in the process. I still don't understand why it only does that on the one key, but I guess it doesn't matter. This all leads to me having more questions, and they follow:

1) What are some better amplification options that I have for the Promega? I normally just use my Promega in my living room (roughly a 20x20 ft. area) and will possibly be playing small gigs at coffee shops and very small venues, so I need a setup that will fit these situations. The 2 speakers on the ground next to the piano weren't really working that great anyway and as you know one of them is now blown.

2) I still would like to update the OS and have absolutely no clue on how to do this.

3)Right now I am just using a cheap Roland sustain pedal and I am interested in possibly upgrading to the 3-pedal Promega setup, but I was wondering what the advantages of this pedal would actually be given that I really only use the (fantastic) piano and Rhodes sounds, and don't fool with Midi or anything like that.

thanks again for your help

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"But, you can't stand on a synthesizer." --Billy Joel

Well, I rather suspected it was in your amplification somewhere. Having one key that produces a strange sound is not something that is likely to occur.

The fact that just one note is making the speaker in question produce the unwanted sound, it could be something vibrating either inside the speaker cabinet (wires touching the woofer cone, etc.) or something that the speaker is sitting on or near. You might want to check that out. Normally if a speaker is blown, more than one set of frequencies (multiple notes) will sound bad.

To answer your questions;

• Call or e-mail Artie to determine the closest service center to get your instrument updated. This is not something you want to attempt on your own as it requires opening the instrument up and changing jumpers on the main board during the update.
• The Promega 3 pedal unit offers authentic control of all 3 pedals of an acoustic piano. The left pedal being the soft pedal, sostenuto on the middle pedal, and the right pedal is a continuously variable damper pedal. The 3rd pedal uses a variable potentiometer instead of the typical momentary switch used in other sustain pedals. The Promega constantly reads the value of this potentiometer and the damper pedal computer model responds by recreating the sound that would be present in an acoustic piano based on what note(s) are held down, what notes are being struck and the position of the dampers inside the piano.
• As for amplification, there are a lot of choices. Without going into a long explanation of what to look for and stay away from, let me just tell you what we (GEM) have found to be excellent. M-Audio active monitors work great. There are certainly other brands with similar products, but this is what we use at trade shows, etc. and they have never let us down. Check out the BX5 Active Monitors and the SBX Active Sub HERE

I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Dave


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Wm. David McMahan
Nat'l Product and Support Manager
Generalmusic USA

[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 12-30-2004).]

Dave,

Do you ever take a day off?



Regards,

Paul

Day Off? What's that?

Thanks a lot for your help, I think I'm going to go ahead and get the Promega pedal and start looking into different amplification options...turns out the customer service is just as good as the piano, and that's saying something! Thanks again...

Hi Andrew,

Glad to help. I am sure you will enjoy the 3 pedal unit. If you can't find one at your local dealer, feel free to contact our office at 630-766-8230 and tell them that I said it was OK for you to purchase one direct.

If there is anything else that I can help you with, just ask.

BTW - GEM will be showing a new amplification system designed for our Genesys Pro arranger/workstation that may be a good choice for your amplification needs. I have not seen or heard the system in person yet so I can't really offer any opinions at this point. Once I get the chance to check it out, I will let you know. To take a look at the Genesys Audio System, go to www.generalmusic.com (this is the main Italian website), and click on GEM/English, then click on News and the first entry is Genesys Audio System.

Best Regards,

Dave

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Wm. David McMahan
Nat'l Product and Support Manager
Generalmusic USA

[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 12-30-2004).]