That's a sound expansion upgrade (like sound packs for Yamaha's, sampled expansion sounds for Korg's etc., ALL of which cost money!) as well as an OS revision.

From a post by you a few years ago:


Full post is here: http://leighwilbraham.forumchitchat.com/post/Wersi-Abacus-OAS-6-2036451 How much have you put into your Abacus over the years, Bill? LOL

There is considerable totally new stuff and a lot of older features not included in the original OS for the BK-9, all completely free. Roland do a great job of extending the lifespan of their arrangers (they brought out an OS3 for G70 two YEARS after it was introduced!) at no cost.

There is a feature not yet implemented for the BK-9 where you WILL be able to add additional sounds (new samples) to the internal ROM, and that (like the Atelier update) will be a paid for addition. But OS upgrades have always been free for the arrangers, AFAIK.

Looks like with the updates..the BK9 is back on my list...

Has anyone tried SMF with markers from the E and G series on the BK9...Are they compatible?

I wonder if the problem I had with G70 exclusive reading on the BK series..was corrected...If someone can check these points out...I would appreciate knowing the facts...


Now if I can overcome the lack of a touch screen....although it looks to be the ipad in the near future...


I really don't think I could be happy with a Korg..on the surface it has the features I could use....but I so much rather have a compatible instrument to my G70..

The markers, and new updates to the BK9..definately has me rethinking the Korg consideration..

After spending some time on the Yamaha s950 again...I ruled it out..Poor keys and still no touchscreen..
The Korg was a consideration because of the touch screen..

Markers seem to come in just fine. Same system as the G70. The four Variation buttons are used for the Markers (so I'm hoping this can be used in an update to the other BK's, especially the BK-7m)

The issue you had was with Yamaha XG codes in the sys-ex preventing the Makeup Tools from being used. Remove the offending sys-ex, and all was fine. Did you check it out? http://www.roland-arranger.com/smf/index.php?topic=2015.0

As the BK-9 has a full MIDI sequencer, you can remove the codes there, or, as I think I suggested, write a Sonor 'batch' program to remove it from ALL your SMF's in one go.

The loss of the touchscreen is quite a handicap, but it looks like the iPad app is going to restore much of the functionality. But, in fairness, how much do you end up navigating around during a gig? If you write a Performance per song, you probably don't need to a whole lot. MY problems come from I'm using the G70 as a live band keyboard (no auto anything!) and I often get called to play songs I have no setup for yet... This makes the touchscreen of much more importance!

But I'm going to try the BK-9 Performance editor out on a friend's iPad... if it helps me create setups on the fly as easily as I did from the G70's screen, that's it for the G70!

I'm going BK-9 all the way!

All the updates for the Pegasus Wing Arranger have also been free, with another expected later this year. (Which will be about 2 ½ years after launch)

OAS 7 was a large OS and sound update also. (Creamware’s Scope engine was replaced with Steinberg’s Hypersonic VST engine with 300 new sounds added)

The Hardware in my Abacus gets upgraded when I upgrade my computer (I just transfer the old computer parts to the Abacus) so no dedicated cost there.

Software wise including OAS 7 (Which also required a new SG card) about £750 over 10 years, (My Abacus now has exactly the same as a brand new instrument, even though it is 10 years old) and as there is no comparison between old and new I am sure you will agree is very good value, and much cheaper than most users who have changed their boards more than once in that time (The vast majority of arranger players) to get incremental upgrades.

The last update was May/June last year (Free) with another expected later this year. If you want to know what changed in the update then it contained a brand new and advanced drum editor. (If you wish to see the differences look at page 48 for the old drum editor and page 11 for the new drum editor in the OAS7 Programming manual V2 which can be downloaded here )


Bill

BTW, Fran, I've been Makeup Tooling all my G70 sequences in the BK-9. Although they were heavily edited in the G70, I haven't had a single ONE refuse to be worked on by the BK-9.

Your problem was with Yamaha sys-ex in the file.