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United Kingdom
Asked — Edited
Resolved Resolved by Jeremie!

Soundboardez-B Background Hiss

Hi everyone.

I have a small issue using the EZ-B soundboard and just wondered if anyone experienced this and possibly has a fix. When I play sound files there is a rather annoying hiss in the background.

When I play the sound files directly through a media player on my PC, perfect.

When I use SayEZB() or Pandorabot control, perfect.

But any sound file played through the EZ-B soundboard the background hiss returns. Not a major problem but I would like to eliminate this if I could. Is it possible?

Cheers.


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United Kingdom
#2  
I seem to be getting the hiss from anywhere between 15 to 100. I haven't gone over 100 as the sounds are loud enough.
#3  
With the breakout mod, I found much of the his was gone. I experienced hissing a bit when I had a loud song or noise playing.
United Kingdom
#4  
Check the MP3. The built in speaker and amp isn't going to be as good as the speakers & amp on your PC, the hiss is likely to be a part of the track.

Try using Audacity (it's free) to remove hiss and see if it gives better results.
United Kingdom
#5  
Sorry, I sould have mentioned that I broke out the EZ-B sound to play through an external amplified speaker.

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Funnily enough the sound files I created where done using Audacity so it's not the MP3 quality, and any other audio such as SayEZB() ect are crystal clear.
United Kingdom
#6  
I just got home and I tried reducing the soundboard volume down to 1, and the hiss can still be heard. In fact the volume of the hiss doesn't change when I adjust the volume slider. *confused*
PRO
Canada
#7  
Hi @Steve G

With the first stage audio breakout the music should be very clean. The reason your are likely seeing the voices come out clean is likely because voice is in a limited frequency range where as music is in a broader range.

A couple things to check:

Is the gain set pretty high on your external amplifier or is it just volume adjust?

Is your audio cable shielded?

Have you tried reflowing your solder joints with a bit of flux?
United Kingdom
#8  
@Jeremie.

Thanks for responding. I don't have a separate amplifier as the speaker has one built in, so no gain control, just a volume wheel which is set to medium level. The audio cable is shielded. It came from an old pair or headphones. And the solder I used had a flux core mix so there shouldn't be a problem there.
#9  
Steve G, how is your amp powered ? You may need an additional ground or even a ground loop isolator.
United Kingdom
#10  
It is powered by a small rechargable battery housed inside the speaker itself. Below is a picture of the speaker I'm using.

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PRO
Canada
#11  
Aw yes, the issue very well may be that the speaker and ez-b don't share the same ground reference since they have separate power supplies. If you can find a way (maybe through the charging port) to connect the grounds together the noise is likely to go away.
United Kingdom
#12  
@Jereime.

Thanks for that. Coming to think of it that does make sense. I will give the grounding a try.

Thanks again. :)
#13  
My plan with the breakout mod is to get an amplified speaker like you have but power it from the bots main battery. Interested to see if you fix it!
United Kingdom
#14  
No worries Technopro. I'll post an update when I try it.
Unknown Country
#15  
I experienced a similar annoying hiss when I playing my audio file using the built-in media player. I think that is because there is something wrong with the player. So I download a third-party player to play it. But the same hiss still occurs. I describe this issue to my friend. He suggests that I use an audio editor to remove the noise since the hiss might be from the audio file itself. I employ his recommended Joyoshare Media Cutter. He said that's a reliable audio and video editor that he has been using. Then I try. Luckily, it helps me to eliminate the annoying hiss and won't damage my audio file quality. If anyone who is faced with the same case like me, hope this can be helpful.
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