I have already said I believe the BK9 is really a MOTL arranger. An upper end MOTL, to be sure, but some of the features are pretty unique, and as it is 76, if it HAD a 61 version, it would be priced fairly close to Yamaha's MOTL S950.

I am not sure why people want to compare the BK9 to a T4. Unless they want to make themselves feel better as a Yamaha user!

Mind you, let's face it... Is what you get (or far more to the point, what you USE of what you get) worth another $2000-2500? In other words, do you get TWICE the arranger? You don't even get the same number of keys!

BTW, for all of you that have been down on 76 note arrangers because of the weight, here's one that bucks the trend. Lighter than a 61!

Overall, as far as the display goes, yes... An inferior display to Yamaha's S950. Oh, wait a minute - TWO displays The jury is out yet on whether two not so great displays is more useful than one higher resolution color one. Particularly when NEITHER of them are touch screens. I can think of quite a few useful things I could do given a choice of what get displayed.

I know I'm spit-balling here, but perhaps the lack of a touch screen, the lack of the high end keybed, VH, and a an extra UPR and LWR Part leave Roland with the option to come out with a REAL TOTL arranger at closer to the usual TOTL price (mind you, that would probably still be lower than Yamaha's amazingly inflated Tyros price point) if the market picks up?

And finally, nobody that researches the issue would ever consider an iPad as a viable alternative to a touch screen. Roland's software is barebones at best, and not a substitute in ANY sense of the word for a real touchscreen.

Meanwhile, of course, the BK's still have a punchy, live sound that even Yamaha's inflatedly priced TOTL arranger can only dream of.

Well if anyone is willing to pay $5000 for a Tyros 4, let me know and I'll buy a as many as you want and sell them to you!
That's not even close to what you can buy them for.
But I agree they are still pretty high.
I can't understand how you can form a real opinion on keyboards that are not even being produced yet, as BK9!
Look at just the specs and hype and Fran's Mediastation is the absolute best!
DonM

I have a Tyros 3 and a Motif XF6. Since getting the Motif I no longer use styles for my compositions because the Motif in general sounds better ( more Lively ) especially the Drums. I originally paid $3K for the T3. I've thought about selling it but am held captive by the SA and SA2 Voices for Tenor Sax, Jazz Trumpet, Classical Guitar, Nylon Guitar, Classical Flute, Harmonica. I just cannot get close to those sounds on the Motif and I haven't yet heard their equal on other Arrangers. But I have to say while those specific voices are wonderful by themselves the overall sound of the Motif is much better. I will give some consideration to the BK-9 as a replacement for the T3 when more demos are available.

Joe

Yeah I realize the Tyros4 can be had for less than $5 grand Don. Although Guitar Center is currently asking $5,299.00 on their website. In the stores a Tyros4 can be bartered down considerably if you know how to haggle with the employees. It also helps to be a 'good' customer if you know what I mean. I've bought thousands of dollars worth of equipment from Guitar Center over the years and I could probably pick up the Tyros4 on the cheap. If $4,000 is considered cheap that is.

What can I say? I realize I'm being hard on Roland but I don't discriminate. I let them all have it if I think they really have it coming. I'm a consumer advocate and If I had to choose a career again I think I would have done quite well as an employee for the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Keyboard companies are in business to make a profit. No big deal right? They should not be in business to "gouge" consumers or to participate in dubious business practices that negatively affect the ethic commonality expected from the business community as a whole. In other words, shady business practices harm not only the company that resorts to using them but it can also affect the reputation of the business community as a whole, as consumers start to lose confidence in the standards that are normally required by companies to protect both the consumer and the range of products companies sell.

I own several products from Roland currently. I have a Fantom G7 (76 key), a Sonic Cell sound module and also Sonar Producer 8.5 which Roland bought out i.e. Cakewalk, a few years ago. If Roland messes up (which I believe they did regarding the BK-9 as far as the lackluster monochrome LCD screens and the necessity of buying (and using) an iPad in order to see the menu's in color, when most consumers don't own an iPad for Roland's information) and thus adds a significant cost increase to a keyboard that should be able to stand on its own without frivolous add-on's that needlessly burden consumers who don't own an iPad. It's a case of Roland trying to hoodwink people into buying something they shouldn't be required to buy just in order to effectively navigate the BK-9 menu's and/or the OS in general. 160 x 160 pixels on an LCD is last Century (1980's) technology that gives the perception Roland cares more about selling iPads than they do about customer satisfaction on the products they sell.

I've also been hard on Yammie, Korg, Ketron and Casio. Casio has made some remarkable progress in the last few years, and therefore, most of my discussion about Casio is positive of late. I'm not a respecter of companies. If a company provides excellent products and services I commend their efforts and I tout their products and in many cases I end up buying products from those companies. When a company takes a turn for the worse... you know who you are I let them know about it and I admit I usually don't pull any punches. In other words, I try to speak in a way that will hopefully catch the attention of the company in question so that hopefully changes can be made in future releases.

A keyboard forum such as Synthzone really doesn't reach a huge audience but occasionally keyboard company executives have been known to frequent Synthzone and other keyboard forums on occasion. At least that's what Steve Deming of Yamaha U.S. was quoted as saying a few years ago. Although talking to Yamaha is like talking to a brick wall. Nothing seems to get through. It's nothing personal of course and if any other company acted in a similar fashion they would get a similar critique. It's not Steve Deming's fault as we know. He relays various information to the head honchos who ultimately relay some of that information to the executives at Yamaha Japan and they ultimately make the final decisions. Such as refusing to produce a quality 76 key high end arranger that roughly half of all keyboard players actually prefer, and so forth.

I know Korg representatives check in on occasion and of course Ketron representatives do as well. By the way, I think I drove Domenico of Lionstracs away. I apologize to him if he still peruses the site. Sometimes my words are conveyed in such a way that they don't translate very well online. My words can sometimes get misconstrued or taken out of context as can all of ours. Being unable to speak face to face has its limitations needless to say. What I'm trying to say is I have a big heart and nothing I write online should be taken personally. You thought I was going to say 'seriously' right? In some cases that's true also. We're supposed to be one big happy family correct? Although try telling that to Fran and Donny. Just kidding!

Now where was I? Oh yeah. Roland has distanced themselves from their user base except on the rarest of occasions. Once in a blue moon type of thing. Other than that you nary hear a peep from Roland and company. Which I believe negatively affects their company persona. If a company essentially refuses to interact and communicate with customers online it diminishes the effectiveness of that companies bottom line in my opinion. Which could be the main reason why Roland has lost money 'hand over fist' over the last few years. And also because the products they've produced of late have been in some instances just so so in my opinion. Mediocre comes to mind. And for what it's worth so too has Yamaha's music division lost money 'hand over fist' recently. Which could also be attributed to the downturn in the world economy. Since most people now have less money to 'burn' on keyboards or products in general. Except Fran and Donny it seems. Oops! Another lengthy post. I'll try and limit them from now on. Cheers everyone!

All the best, Mike