Nope...no pitch bend accessible from the BK-7M itself (only portamento on/off via foot-switch), and, no D-Beam.

Bummer.

Don,

The stick may have an embedded program that you must first disable in order for it to be recognized. Place the USB drive in your PC, click MY Computer, then look at the files and folders--that's how I found the program in mine and was able to disable it so it was recognized by the keyboard.

Gary

Yes that's right. I had that problem also with my GW8 but after cleaning up the stick on the PC it worked.

Don,
I just copied folders from my computer of Roland styles and many folders of various midi files and mp3 files onto a 2 or 4 gb usb drive and they showed up perfectly when I pushed the usb switch on the BK7m. As stated earlier make sure you are not using a drive that might have drive exclusive information. Make sure you remove any proprietary information from your drive. I have a utility program on my computer which completely erases everything off a usb drive to make it completely clean. I received 2 more BK7m modules today which were pre sold to Synthzone guys and I made drives for one of them and it read perfectly as well.

Thanks guys. But I have tried four different thumb drives. I formatted one of them on the PC. The module won't recognize any of them. If I push the USB button, it says "No drive is inserted."
I called my dealer and he will call Roland Monday to see what the problem may be and what they want to do about it. I'm sure they will tell me to get a Roland thumb drive. I would if I could find one, but I'm 99% sure that isn't the problem.
DonM

Does any Yamaha arranger module have pitch bend from a D-Beam..?

Oh, that's right... No Yamaha arranger modules, and no D-Beam's.

Oh well...

Does the BK-67m have a dedicated pitch bender? Nope.

Does it have a D-beam? Nope.

Two steps backwards? Yep.

Oh well...

Later thoughts...this module is obviously intended for use on a digital piano...how many of the latter have pitch bend? Not very many. Even a pedal actuated pitch bend would be better than none at all....oh well, perhaps the BK-7m Mark II will address this omission.;)

What module DOES have a pitch wheel on it? D-Beam is useless as a pitch bender anyway (you'd know that if you used one), and most controllers have pitch wheels or levers. Those controlling things from a piano front end tend to be pianists, and aren't really into that (or why would Yamaha NOT put a pitch wheel on all its stage pianos? - they all have sounds in them that could use one).

This module is NOT meant JUST for use with a digital piano. It works pretty well with just about any type of MIDI controller, accordions, MIDI guitars, keyboards, you name it. Should you choose to use a controller that DOESN'T have a pitch bend capability, that's YOUR choice. Roland have NEVER provided pitch bend on any previous model. There's no 'one step back'...

Yep, putting it on a footpedal or a footswitch (be nice to use a couple of FC-7 switches for a pitch up/down capability) would be a step FORWARD, but few players will need it. I have rarely seen anyone using the footpedal pitch bends that Yamaha arrangers can do. Maybe it should be dropped, like the Chord Sequencer..?!

If you anticipate wanting to do a lot of pitchbends, yep, you are going to need a controller with one. Plenty of 88's with them. In fact, didn't Yamaha make one of the most successful (KX88)? Then they stopped making it...

One step back...

It's too bad they didn't include a pedal function or a dedicated wheel/bender for pitch bend on the BK-7m...digital pianos will probably make up a big perecentage of where it will be used...Roland's FP do not have wheels/bender.

I don't know what Yamaha have to do with Roland's BK-7m design flaws (and/or omissions), so why bother bringing them up, unless it's another smokescreen to hide Roland behind...that stuff gets tiring real quick.

Just because Roland never used a bender on a module before, doesn't suddenly mean they should not...so perhaps it's really not a step back, but rather "no step ahead".

Leaving the D-beam off was a step back however, as was an assignable pedal function for pitch bend (even if it only bends one way, it is far better than NO way).

Whoever designs these things certainly doesn't think ahead...of course, that's been the source of many of Roland's problems all along.

A bit of forethought and planning and better communication might have saved the arranger division.

Maybe more of the above might inspire a BK-7m Mark II?

Ian

I could tell you what "gets tiring real quick", but then I'd risk losing one of my few remaining friends on Synthzone. I say, give it a rest. The guys that are actually BUYING one could care less about this issue and besides, there probably aren't three people on this forum that use a digital piano as their primary instrument for gigging; and if you're in the studio, you probably have SOMEthing with a pitch bend lever or wheel on it.

Sorry guys, but I had to take some Milk of Magnesia this morning so I'm already nauseous.

chas