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I'm Fairly new to music generation so please bear with me.

I purchased a Yamaha PSS-A50 based on good reviews and the desire to record my musical journey onto my computer. I love the keyboard, the "voices" are better than I hoped. Through this I learned that MIDI doesn't actually record the audio "as heard", which I must admit I was disappointed to discover but I guess that's all part of learning!

The keyboard only has two ports, MIDI-USB and 3.5mm headphone. Perusing the headphone route I followed some online advice and purchased an audio interface, specifically an M-Audio M-Track Duo. I then purchased a 3.5mm to 1/4" adaptor so that the keyboard can connect to the audio Interface.

I was so hoping this would work, but I have a problem. Despite having the volume up to max on the keyboard, and all the way up on the audio interface, the recorded music is quiet and very hissy. It is as if it struggles to come out of the keyboard. I have tried toggling Phantom Power on the AI but no joy. I'm desperate to get this music onto the PC, what am I missing?

Thank you very much!

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    How have you connected the piano to the M-track? If you don’t know the names of the connectors, a photo would help too.
    – ojs
    Commented Jul 11 at 22:35
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    Have you turned up input gains on the M-track Duo? How exactly have you determined that the recorded music is quiet and hissy? What program do you record into? Have you looked at the waveform? How do you listen to the recording?
    – piiperi Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jul 11 at 23:09
  • Your initial misunderstanding of MIDI is quite common to the "uninitiated", especially nowadays. Consider that MIDI was created almost 40 years ago, when computer and music hardware was in a relatively early stage. For comparison, an MP3 song can be sent on a wireless connection in less than a second today, while it normally required about 20 minutes on a standard home PC and connection near the end of 90s. And we're talking about compressed audio which demands for relatively advanced hardware (which obviously didn't exist in the 80s): the uncompressed audio version of that song would've »
    – musicamante
    Commented Jul 12 at 2:13
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    @musicamante Isn't comparing the bandwidth of audio vs MIDI missing the point?  The aim of MIDI isn't to transfer the sound, but to transfer the performance, so that it can be recreated on other devices using other sounds.  IIRC, the very first public demonstration was using one synthesiser to ‘play’ another, live; other major uses include allowing (e.g. expensive, long, weighted) master keyboards to control multiple synths (often with short, lightweight keyboards); allowing keyboards to play sound modules and other sound-generating devices in addition to their own sounds,…
    – gidds
    Commented Jul 12 at 18:31
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    …allowing computers and sequencers to record performances and play them back using multiple synths and modules at once; controlling effects units and other audio processors; transferring backups and other data; controlling stage lighting and pyrotechnics…  None of which would benefit from being able to carry audio.
    – gidds
    Commented Jul 12 at 18:31

2 Answers 2

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Adapters can be problematic. The 3.5mm jack on the keyboard is stereo so if you are using an adapter and a single wire to go to one channel of the interface you are only getting one side of a stereo signal. A better choice is to buy a dedicated cable with a 3.5 male jack on one side that splits to two wires that each have a 1/4 inch male jack. This will allow you to record in stereo and get the full sound your keyboard produces. This product is not a recommendation by me but just an example of what you need: https://a.co/d/05kU24IY

The 3.5mm jack plugs into the keyboard and the two 1/4 jacks plug into channels 1&2 on the front of the interface. The signal from your keyboard should be sufficient to be registered by the interface. Start by setting it at about 75%, you can raise it later if you need more signal. Before you record you need to set the input gain for both channels, which are the two knobs on the left. This will strengthen the signal from the keyboard if necessary. I don’t know this specific unit but these generally work by colors. Play your keyboard and the lights below the knobs should flash green. Keep raising the level until they start to flash red and then back off a little bit till they are green again. If the signal still seems weak with the input gain set high then raise the keyboard volume to 100% and try again. You can read more about setting the input gain in the manual for the interface.

At this point try doing some recording and playback. The two knobs on the right are the main volume and the headphone volume for monitoring. With the right cables and settings you should get a decent recording.

One other thing, phantom power is irrelevant, it is only used to power certain types of microphones and has no effect on the signal from your keyboard so leave it off.

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  • Thank you so much for this response, I will try this out and get back to you!
    – Octavector
    Commented Jul 12 at 8:36
  • Thank you so much! the 3.5mm to 2 x 1/4Inch cable solved the problem. I can now record my music and I'm delighted, thank you so much!
    – Octavector
    Commented Jul 13 at 18:44
  • @Octave So glad to hear, enjoy! I did not get overly detailed in my answer but it is best to record channels 1&2 simultaneously to a stereo track so you have both the left and right sides on one track.
    – John Belzaguy
    Commented Jul 13 at 19:22
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The M-audio M-track Duo audio interface has combo inputs which accept three different things: (1) XLR microphone connectors, (2) TRS plugs, (3) TS plugs. It can detect which of these you have plugged in, and it changes its operation accordingly. This is a fairly common feature for all audio interfaces today.

A snippet from the user manual:

M-audio front panel manual

another quote from the manual:

M-audio front panel manual 2

A balanced audio connection means using two wires for a single (mono) signal in such a way that the receiving end can remove noise induced along the signal path, by summing the signals from the two separate wires with the other wire's signal negated. Both wires have the same noise, so noise minus noise equals zero.

What happens when you feed a stereo signal into such an input? I assume that the receiving end does exactly the thing it's supposed to do to balanced signals - it produces an output that's the "Left" channel MINUS the "Right" channel. Which in this case ends up being a very quiet signal that you can't make loud enough even by cranking up the input gain to maximum.

I happen to have a similar Yamaha PSS-A50 keyboard, which is a great little tool for guitar practicing, providing quick ad-hoc backing tracks, simple comping and metronome. I recorded a piano sound from the headphone output, with the Yamaha's output volume set to maximum, into a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20's input channel 1 (which has a similar combo input with automatic selection of TRS=balanced and TS=unbalanced), with input gain set to maximum. And I did this (1) with a TRS 3.5 mm plug to TRS 1/4" (stereo) plug adapter, and then (2) a TRS 3.5 mm plug to 2 x TS 1/4" (mono) plug adapter cable, using just the left channel. And here are the results:

TRS vs TS recording from a stereo headphone output

So, my advice: get a TRS 3.5 mm plug to 2 x TS 1/4" (mono) plug adapter cable. Then you can even record stereo audio from the Yamaha.

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  • Thank you so much for putting so much effort into this response. You were absolutely correct and the dedicated cable solved my problem. I wish I could give the green tick to both your and John's answers but I feel obliged to tick John's as he was first to respond with the resolve. Thank you ever so much!
    – Octavector
    Commented Jul 13 at 18:43
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    I would choose this answer, since the other one does not explain why the stereo cable does not work
    – ojs
    Commented Jul 15 at 9:43

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