Diki, the only reviews I have any confidence in at all are first-hand experience reviews, from people that have ACTUALLY touched the played the machine - not reviews from people who claim to know everything there is about arranger keyboards because they slept in a Holiday Inn Express that was within 20 miles of the nearest dealer.

I really don't need a BK9 to hear great style sounds, I have a great S-950 that does an outstanding job for me. I've owned a Roland G800 and Korg I3, and while they are considered dinosaurs by today's standards, I don't believe the drum sounds have changed very much since then. And, if the only reason I purchased an arranger keyboard was for the drum sounds, I would just buy another drum machine and go back to playing a 12-string guitar.

And, I played with a REAL drummer three weeks ago. We went to school together and he played many, many proms when we were teenagers. I played the guitar back then, and when we got together I used the S950 with the drums turned off. Just the bass, a piano and a guitar. You know, those drums really didn't sound any different now than they did back then. They were too loud 60 years ago and they're still too loud. Guess I'll stick with the keyboard's inadequate drums - they may be inadequate by YOUR standards, but they have the right volume, sound quality and everything is well balanced.

Ironically, many of the newer styles in all newer TOTL arrangers really don't seem to place a lot of emphasis on the drums. Some of the best Latin styles and ballads have no drums at all. And that's not just Yamaha I'm talking about.

Cheers,

Gary