I found that when I turned off the compressor and EQ, there were a few styles that sounded a bit off. I rather think the style creator had created them with the compressor on, and had adjusted the velocities and volumes to hit the compressor so the final mix was reasonably balanced. But other styles suddenly became more open and left me more room to play ‘inside’ them.

The advantage with the BK-9 (I can’t remember if the EA7 has dual mastering sections or just the one) is that, with one compressor for style/SMF and a different one for the keyboard sounds, if your touch is very light and you struggle to get your solo playing as even as the backing, you can always slap some compression on your playing without compressing the backing. And with two sections, if you do get rather frisky with your lead sound (don’t get me started about how often I’ve heard that!) at least it won’t duck your backing, making the problem even worse…

By the way, if you haven’t already noticed, Roland don’t put the audio files through any mastering tools stuff at all, so this is the best way to set up your monitoring/PA EQ initially… Use a high quality CD .Wav rip on your stick and set your PA/monitors so that sounds nice and flat (don’t overhype the highs and lows, just make it sound nice!) while the CD rip plays. Now try the styles, and see how open and dynamic they now sound!