Donny,
I have yet to own any keyboard that does what my Tyros 4 does for MY audience. Keep in mind I have owned and gigged with a PSR3000, Tyros 3, Korg PA1X, Korg PA2XPro, Roland E60 and E80 and now my Tyros 4. I don't want to start a war here but none of the keyboards I have owned provide the quality of sound of my Tyros 4. I have not ventured into the world of style and sound creation so the tools offered in several keyboards were not of interest to me - only the availability of styles and some great sounds to go with them.

So, why did I buy the Roland BK-7M? Good question- but the simple answer is variety. I now gig daily and often twice a day and it is easy to get tired of the "same old sounds" day after day. I also like the complete "rhythm section" as used in Roland styles. It is not just the drums but the way Roland has put together the "section" - very real like and their bass lines are second to none.

I have no idea if I will keep the BK-7m but I am going to give it a real honest evaluation before I jump to conclusions. I really doubt if I will carry two keyboards on gigs - but then again one never knows until you give it a try. Who knows, I might just keep it to fool around with at the house.

Hammer

Here is a sample tune using only the A-800 and the BK-7m. The style is Modern Medium Swing using the preset voices only. I goof a time or two while reaching for the right buttons when changing voices but you get the idea here.

http://www.4shared.com/audio/96IKbf3h/Deep_Purple.html


Hammer

Haha I was expecting deep purple the rock band.

Hammer another great job on an American Songbook Classic!!

Hi Donny,
Thanks again. I am just posting so those interested can hear what the unit really sounds like when used by the average user. I think the demos are supped up so much it would be difficult for most end users to match them.

I emailed Roland support and asked them if there was a computer program that could function like the built-in tools on the unit. Sure would make working with styles and user programs a lot easier.


Hammer

Is it possible to control the fill-ins with a master keyboard?

As far as I can tell the "fill-ins" are pre-programmed to occur when changing variations I suspect they can be triggered when wanted but I don't know how to do that yet.

Hammer

Ah ok thanks. Your demo sound very good btw

One thing I like very much about the BK-7m is the ease of doing
audio recordings. Basically, you setup song with the style and setting you wish, press one button, and start playing. The audio file is saved on a USB thumb drive ins .wav format. That is it.

If anyone has a style or demo request let me know and if I can do it I will post it here. Everything I will be doing for now will be right out of the box - no tweaking.

Hammer

Hammer if you get time I would love to hear a few minutes of short recordings of different styles ...maybe 20 seconds each...eg:
rumba,chacha,merengue,country waltz,waltz,polka,slow fox,6/8 ballad, country ballad, shuffle swing, med bigband, rock&roll,twist, 8beat,8beat ballad,...etc,...mostly usable gig styles.