Piano and Organ Out of tune

[CarloKey]

Hi All!
I'm a recent and in general satisfyied user of XW-P1,
I must apologize if I start with askin for a troubleshooting here:
To the point:
Sometimes, after using some drawbar organ presets (for example the 0/2 Full Drawbar), and "managing" 2/3 times with the rotary botton (to change velocity in some part of the song i'm playing with my band), i note that the sound get out of tune, and if I switch to piano PCM, the sound remains out of tune. 
I'm in Tone Mode and the only thing I can make is to switch off the keyboard..
Someone can Help me?
Thanx all !
I'm from Italy, sorry 4 my English

[CarloKey]

I up this one...It's happening too often..What can I do?

Thanks!!!

[Null]

Not 100% sure on this but 99% of the time when a keyboard goes out of tune the culprit is a faulty pitchwheel.

 

Too lazy to reach for the manual right now, but check if the pitchwheel can be disabled.  If that fixes it then you've found your culprit.

 

Then it would probably just be a question of re-calibrating the pitchwheel.  There's a few Youtube videos out there on a DIY Pitchwheel calbiration if your XW is out of warranty.

 

Else it would have to go in for repair at an authorized service center.

 

Gary

[CarloKey]

I did not found on the manual how to disable pitch wheel..:-(

[CarloKey]

Hww thanx Gary:-) ...I only would like the keyboard was in tone...but now is not..uff, so I can't use in a reliable way...I'm really desconsolate of it

[Null]

The only references I can find in the manual are on pages E-35 and E-64 regarding assigning the pitchbend controller.

[Null]

If you hit the Settings Button under General the first item is Tuning.  It should be set to 440.0 and Coarse should be set to 0.

 

Check if those settings are OK on your board.

 

Every other keyboard I've owned has had some kind of secret button combination that puts you into diagnostic mode and gives you numerical values for the controllers.

 

Either Casio dropped the ball on this and didn't include this mode or else it's some big corporate secret that Mike hasn't seen fit to share with us yet.

 

Either way it makes me less inclined to go with another Casio in the future unless there's some easy way to get at service mode or diagnostic mode

 

Gary

[CarloKey]

Thnx gary..the probl is that : after playing some minutes organ (in tone mode) the keybord lose tone...and the effect is like someone was "playing" with bender..(only organ and piano sounds)

When i switch off..the tone come back regular

[Null]

This is happening without touching the pitchbend wheel?

 

If it's still under warranty I'd first suggest trying a factory reset.  Last option on the Settings menu.  If it still persists after that then get it professionally serviced under warranty by a Casio authorized service rep.

 

This is NOT normal behaviour for an XW-P1.

 

Gary

[CarloKey]

Ok i ll try...thnx ! !

It'z the first time i experienced it on a keyboard

[CarloKey]

Now s ok...was the modulation wheel

[pianopatro]

I am currently having this exact same issue with both my pitch bend and my mod wheel.  both will just randomly start to change the pitch and modulation as i play, especially on the lower end of the keyboard closer to both wheels. 

 

My quick fix for this was to disable both the pitch bend and the mod wheel inside of a performance mode...of course my synth will still need to get serviced to fix this because it dramatically effects other aspects of the synth such as trying to record phrases (the phrase recorder picks up on the moving wheels before i even press any keys)

[HarlequinDevon]

Hate to bump an old thread, but I just noticed that I am getting the same problem with the XW P1 I recently purchased. The strange thing is that it only is with the piano sounds, and only in the lower registers of the keyboard. The other synth sounds like the strings, flutes, ect are dead on, as well as the piano keys in after middle C. Why is it only the pianos that does this? 

[Null]

Assuming you've zeroed all controllers as well as the pitchbend and modulation wheels and the problem still persists have you tried a factory reset of the keyboard as a possible solution.  That would be the first step before sending it out for service.

 

Gary

[Jokeyman123]

Hmmm...You both say the problem seems to dominate at the lower end of the keyboard-nearer the wheels. and seems to be from the piano sound (which I would guess you hit harder on the keys than say the flute sound or similar). This suggests a problem caused by physical vibration- which may not be so jarring in the middle or upper keyboard ranges in relation to where the pots for the 2 wheels are. Sounds like flaky connections to the wheels, dirt or dust in the pots, or possibly bad (cold or cracked) solder joint. My last guess would be the most likely, as this could occur and recur from physical vibration in a marginal solder joint. I've done this type of repair too frequently especially with power jacks. 

 

Since it is not happening all across the keyboard and is not affecting all sounds equally, probably not a major operating system failure or software "bug" as this would affect all sounds in all registers, or a specific range of notes for all tones (trust me, I've lost years diagnosing and repairing these maddening little problems going back to analog devices and including the newest digital systems). Even an invisible crack in a solder pad could be intermittent, I've detected these with magnifying lenses. Sometimes the entire solder "glob" has separated from the circuitboard but looks like it's still touching, and it is/isn't making brief contact. The Casio frame and components are completely plastic inside so even moderate keystrikes over time could cause a solder joint failure since there is alot of vibration throughout especially if you play fairly hard. although I have no such problems with my XW (so far).

 

If you are not handy with electronics and a soldering iron, I'd leave this to a Casio or other tech repair guy. If you have some experience with electronics repair, it can be a simple solder repair, but you'd have to carefully inspect any wires and solder joints connected directly or indirectly to the 2 wheels. if the solder glob has separated from the circuit board, I scrape a small spot next to the joint to expose the copper next to the broken joint and get some solder (with soldering flux) from the original joint onto that part of the circuitboard. You can also clean the pots inside connected to the wheels and check that all cable connectors are secure and locked in place. Remember you will void your Casio warranty if you open up the XW, so do at your own risk. Hope this helps.

[Crunch]

I have the same problem. Relatively new keyboard and I don't use the bend wheel enough to have made a problem with it. I suspect it is a design problem.

[Null]

First of all have you disabled the Bend wheel to eliminate it as the cause or not?  Likewise do you have the Mod wheel zeroed?

 

Pages E-35 and E-64 in the manual.

 

http://support.casio.com/pdf/008/Web_XWP1-E-1B.pdf

 

Gary

[Crunch]

I'll try that, Gary. Thanks.

[AlenK]

Interesting thread because I now have similar problems with the modulation wheel on my XW-P1. I haven’t actually used the wheel very much over the years and my XW-P1 is in nearly pristine condition and never leaves its keyboard stand, so I doubt it’s due to wear-and-tear.
 

If I leave the modulation wheel in the zero position and then arm the phrase sequencer for recording, it almost immediately drops out of rec standby and starts recording. But if I move the wheel up a little before pressing the REC button, everything is fine. 
 

And I sometimes hear a non-negligible amount of vibrato on, for example PCM melody tones like piano (others too) with the wheel in or near the zero position. Of course, I know what I should be hearing and that isn’t it.
 

If it were one of my own designs (I was an electrical engineer for 30+ years), I would say the input of whatever chip reads the modulation potentiometer is becoming noisy or starting to fail. I sure hope not. 
 

 

Edited March 26 by AlenK