I just recently bought a Carlo Robelli CR400 off of craigslist.

I thought I got a good deal - everything sounded great when I tried it out and I figured I could use my standard 1/4" sustain pedal (the one I use for my midi keyboard).

Anyways, I got home and noticed a few issues..........

#1 - A handful of keys will randomly hit their loudest note when pressed with the same light pressure as the others. So, I will be playing a quiet piece of the same volume and a note here and there will come blasting full volume. I assume it's an electrical issue but I'm wondering if it's anything I can fix on my own or have fixed (at a price that's worth it).

#2 - The plug for "pedal" on the rear of the unit appears to be a midi-style input. From what I can gather, this piano once came with a 3-pedal board. Anyone know where to get a sustain pedal that might work with this? Are there sustain pedals that can come after the keyboard that work similarly (i.e. from keyboard -> pedal -> amp)?

Thanks a ton for any advice you guys may have!

anyone?

If I can't figure this out, this thing's got to go back on craigslist.

Maybe that's because noone knows Carlo Robelli CR400... I guess it's some kind of chinese DP clone with questionable quality.

If you don't have any kind of warranty with your purchase and you don't know anyone who can fix keyboards without taking a fortune, I guess it will be difficult to get this fixed for a reasonable price.

Yea, I had a hard time finding much info on this as well. As a guitarist, I know they (Sam Ash in particular) throw a lot of free Carlo Robelli stuff at you for making any significant purchase (a free acoustic or electric for spending like 300 at SA), but, other than being able to play them decently, I don't know much about keyboards or DPs.

I figured, for one, the issue of volume spikes would be pretty universal along digital keyboards and someone might have some ideas.

As far as the sustain pedal, again, I'm a guitar guy and, while I've seen plenty of 1/4" sustain hookups, I thought more knowledgeable keyboardists/pianists might have some clue.

Thanks for the reply though! Still hoping someone out there has an answer.

I think, this pedal connector is proprietary.
This velocity problem can happen with any digital, when the velocity sensor contacts or the PCB are faulty.

A person that have some experince with keyboards and that know how they work should be able to repair the device, but he must open the device and look at the components at detail.

A service manual would be helpful, but is not absolutely required, as an experienced person can see or measure the necessary connections directly from the hardware.

In the worst case it could turn out that proprietary replacement parts are required, but I dont believe so.

It is however not a 5 minute job. At least several hours of work, if not 2 days would be required.

Best,

Peter

You say a handful of keys randomly hit their loudest note.
Is it the keys that are random, or does it happen randomly but to the same keys?

My old Kurtzweil RG200 had key sensor problems that would crop up every year or two once it got older. Usually replacement of the rubber contact membrane (one octave) would fix the problem. There is a guy here in Toronto who would fix this in an hour or two. He has also fixed other problems on this DP over the years, usually $100 - $200.



See if you can find someone in your area who does this type of work. My guy also fixes church keyboards. Maybe you can get a referal from a church.

Likely the midi-like pedal jack is not midi but just three simple contacts switches with a common ground. You might be able to figure out which is the common ground with an ohm meter or by looking inside.. I bet you can use a standard pedal if you wire an adaptor.

As for the keys that are loud it could be mechanical. Keyboards use two contact switches and measure the time from one closing to the next closing to deduce the key velocity some thing like "gunk" stuck in there could be causing the top switch to close late or the bottom early. A toothbrush and alcohol and compressed air might fix it. But you have to take it apart and look.

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

Stumbler, it's the same handful of keys that have the sensor issue - they just do it at random times.

Chris, I looked very closely and I swear it's a midi plug but i like your idea of possibly wiring an adaptor. I don't need the money too bad so maybe i'll mess around with this and kind of use it as a project.

Chris,

Great call on the velocity issue. I took this whole beast apart (probably about 50 something screws) and learned quite a bit. I used a couple youtube videos as a guide but found that each key on mine only triggers a single rubber "switch."

Anyways, along with a couple dead cockroaches (i kid you not) there was a good amount of very tiny plastic shards from something that must have shattered in there. The plastic was all over the rubber contacts and, after hitting it with some condensed air, the velocity issue is taken care of.

Now, for the pedal problem. I took a couple of pictures of the input and was hoping it might give you a better idea of whether or not this might be able to be converted to 1/4".

The one all the way to the left in this picture is the "pedal" input.

DSC02473 by suckablam, on Flickr

And here's a picture from the inside. The "pedal" input is all the way to the right.

DSC02472 by suckablam, on Flickr