Originally Posted By Diki
I went from the G70 to the BK9… and at first, yes it WAS a bit of a shock to go from a huge responsive color touch screen and tons of buttons to the minimalist BK9. Editing was a LOT slower using that scroll wheel, but the iPad app made all the difference (although there’s still a lot that only navigating the keyboard itself will be allowed).

Great frustration at the start, then gradual realization that, with a Performance List of 999 entries (G70 series only 128 UPG’s) it was easiest to prepare a Performance for each section of a song, and reduce the faffing around with the screen and buttons, live. I can get my entire song list in one Performance List with multiple sections (I generally gig with about 400 songs ready to go).

Once I embraced the change in workflow, I found that playing live became a joy again, not having to do anything other than switch to the next Performance (easy to move them around in the List to organize them any way you wanted!). You can even do Performance up/down with a pair of switches into the FC7 input…

Congratulations on finding a good BK9… they are pretty rare..!


Hi Diki,

Appreciate your reply thank you smile. I actually have two BK9's!! A bit of a long story on how I got them (one was by mistake) but turned out to be a great move anyway as they are both in pristine condition, and as you say, very rare! You wait so long to try and find one, then a couple turn up!! Like waiting for a bus!!

So far I am really enjoying this keyboard, it is like owning something brand new because as mentioned before I've not experienced any Roland arrangers in the past when they were in the mix with the others and so it does feel like something fresh. It really does compliment my Pa5x and Event very well indeed, does not feel out of place at all. It has relegated my Genos/SX900 event further away!

I do agree regarding the clunky OP system though, I've noticed it most when after creating a performance and saving it into the list, using the 1-9 buttons to select the lettering, I know it's similar on the EA7 but I can't help but think that it didn't need to be like this! Other than that, I can't really fault it. I've been on it almost every day since I bought it (them!!).

One thing I am having some problems with is re-voicing some of the midi files using makeup tools. If it's a midi file that was made specifically for another brand, say GEM or Yamaha, it won't allow me to change it. I presume I'd need to use the sequencer for that? I've not tried it yet.