No argument there... Yamaha's style collection is probably the largest. Of course, not ALL of them address the newer SA sounds or the latest Mega voices, but even so, it's a great collection.

Bad news, of course, is that you have to play them through a Yamaha for them to work! I despair of Yamaha ever getting the lead out and providing some seriously good kits (adding one or two doesn't really cut it, just about all of them other than the new Live Kits are pretty bland), and the audio loop styles are few and far between, and not all that well integrated, sound-wise into the styles.

But the good news is, there a ton of really good guitar playing on the BK's styles, and you can do mix and match fairly easily, so the mega voices aren't quite the impediment to translation they used to be...

Phantom75,

Just sent you a PM. Please read and respond.

Thanks

One of the main appeals of the BK-9 is of course the inclusion of 76 keys which gives a person more real estate on the low and high end. With 61 keys you run out of keys and then you are forced to use the octave +up - down buttons which if not done precisely can ruin a performance lickity split. What also sets the BK-9 apart from other high(er) end arrangers is the much lower cost compared to the PA3XPRO and Audya.

After listening to several other BK-9 demos and the newest Demo 8 posted on this thread I've gotten a better understanding of the power and versatility of the BK-9. Listening to that nice distorted guitar in Demo 8 was really refreshing. It was an excellent patch and almost indistinguishable from a real guitar in my opinion. But... there's usually always a but right?... some of the sounds are less than stellar obviously. For instance the Soprano Sax was okay but nothing to write home about if you ask me. I noticed the trumpet sound in Demo 8 was also a little lackluster but only when pressing certain notes. Which tells you Roland's sample creation on that particular patch wasn't as precise as it could have been in my opinion. I admit I'm very picky regarding sound realism but the goal should be perfection right? Or at least as close as possible. Keyboard manufacturers should take a page out of the playbook from Lexus... the pursuit of perfection. Some people have mentioned that the BK-9 is a step backward compared with the G-70 sounds. I personally don't feel that way but you also need to remember the G70 was a lot more expensive than the BK-9. I did notice that the styles on the BK-9 sounded kind of robotic. We're in the 21st Century so you'd think they could figure out how to make styles sound more natural. Yamaha arrangers also lack in that regard in my opinion.

BTW, I thought the Brass section in Demo 8 was excellent. So there seems to be a little bit of 'hit and miss' regarding the sounds but that's to be expected on all arrangers unfortunately. I do think the plusses outweigh the minuses regarding the BK-9 and therefore Roland should be able to sell quite a few of them based on product marketing alone. In other words, the demonstrations have put it in a positive light and that's very important obviously.

BTW, here is Part 9 (Demo 9) from the series:



The nylon guitar is quite nice in Demo 9 and the string section (more like an Orchestral section) is also pretty good if you ask me. What will likely prevent me from getting a BK-9 is the crummy low-resolution LCD screen(s). If your eye-sight is currently okay it may not be after gazing at the BK-9's fuzzy LCD screen(s) for hours on end... figuring out what exactly you're looking at and/or how to navigate the various menu screens when for all intents and purposes it's rather hard to see things clearly, given the fact the rather small monochrome, low-resolution (and quite frankly fuzzy) LCD screen(s) are more suited for the 1980's than to the 21st Century. Unless of course you already own an iPad and then you'd be alleviated from that dilemma. But if you don't own an iPad - like billions of other people around the world who also don't - then you'll need to fork over up to $700.00 smackaroos for the privilege of seeing things clearly and in color. And that my friends could be a big anchor that drags the BK-9 down and indeed may end up backfiring on Roland and company. I think a lot of otherwise very interested people might forgo getting a BK-9 simply because of the aforementioned lackluster LCD screens. And indeed the almost necessity of purchasing a costly iPad if you don't already own one. Yes, that would be me and billions of other... oh never mind.

But if you can deal with the rinky dink low-resolution LCD screens and/or you already own an iPad... the BK-9 just might fit the bill to what is otherwise a highly capable arranger keyboard in my estimation.

All the best, Mike

If you are looking at the screen, you ain't looking at the audience!

Navigation IS a total PITA, even compared to non-touch screen systems like the PSR's. They at least have a plethora of buttons surrounding the screen, to allow you to select functions on the screen individually. But Roland's one wheel which ALSO doubles as the enter button is sheer stupidity.

So, for me, the G70 remains my live keyboard of choice. But all my solo and duo arranger work will be on the BK-9. I set all that up in advance, and have little need for complex navigation.

Also, to a fair degree, adding an FC-7 puts many of the buried functions at your feet (if you want them there) and there's a fair selection of functions that can be mapped to the 4 switches by the bender. So quite a lot of ways to work around the screen issues.

There's also considerable power under the sliders, which can now be mapped to live control of the voice programming, and, new to Roland, some of the MFX insert effect parameters.

Sadly, the current iPad offerings do VERY little to make up for the lack of a touch screen. If Roland want to make some quick cash, they ought to make an app that mimics the touch screen OS from the G70. I would happily pay some pretty good money for that (and happily buy the iPad - you don't need the full TOTL iPad, an iPad Mini would still be a larger screen than the G70's). But if you think buying an iPad right now gets you G70-like capabilities, forget it!

As usual with Roland, it's two steps forward, one and a half steps back. I honestly have no idea why they can't recognize the good and the bad of their OS's, and keep all the good and ONLY ditch the bad. The baby is constantly being thrown out with the bathwater..!

But I have my G70 and BK-9 sitting next to each other, running through the same mixer and Mackie HR824 nearfields. I can assure everybody, there is absolutely no loss of quality in the overall sound. Yes, there are a few sounds which are different... it doesn't include the entire G70 soundset (which included a lot of legacy stuff that even the E80 dropped), so odds are you'll find a couple of sounds you used to like gone, but there are hundreds of new sounds, some of which are quite spectacular. But overall s/n ratio, fullness of D/A converters and the like are identical, as far as I can tell.

I'm still a fan of the G70 for live band use. I don't think anything can or ever will beat it. It's OS and touch screen is the most logical, responsive, easy to use system of any keyboard made (and I've tried them all!). But the BK-9 will be my new go to keyboard for anything OTHER than live band use. You start digging into it, and it's quite deep and powerful, and has a live sound unequaled, IMO, by anything out there short of audio loops.

For a circa $2100 76 note arranger, nothing even comes CLOSE!

Can you use any other tablet with it- samsung, or kindle fire??

Currently, the iPad is the only platform for the Roland apps...

But the guy who wrote the Session Manager software for the G/E series is currently working on porting it for the BK series, and likely that will work with any Windows based tablet...

Once that is up and running, it will be a FAR better solution to managing the Performances and editing them than anything that Roland currently make.

Today I’ve discovered by chance that Roland produces a lot of expensive equipment for printing establishments like gigantic printers or scanners. I used to think that all their business was musical instruments.