Yes... basically, the BK-5/3 don't have the audio loops feature, or the user drumkits, and a BUNCH or other stuff.

TBH, the only BK I'd highly recommend is the BK-9. Perhaps if some of the new stuff gets added to the BK-7m or BK-5, they'll be up there, but for now, the BK-9 is the one to go for.

Thank you all for your replies!

For the music genres you mention I would strongly advise to NOT buy an arranger keyboard. Even the most recent arranger keyboards are not able to produce decent EDM and sound cheesy. I've made some YouTube video's in the past (and quite recently) in these genres, but the end result is always so-so and far below par compared to the 'real' EDM productions.

Decent style and sound programming for electronic music is somehow not a priority for arranger keyboard manufactures.

Synthesizer Workstations like the Yamaha Motif series and Korg Krome/Kronos can do a much better job in the before mentioned genres and have similar chord recognition functions to an arranger.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Joost

I know but regular workstations do not inspire Besides, my type of trance and techno music is not pure good drums and sounds but a core melody (or tune) to it and the bells and whistles are on top of it.

Also, it is possible to create a nice modern music on an arranger and then add arrps and the rest to it using Motif and such.

I'd agree with Tostie, on the whole.

But with one important difference. Because arrangers like the Korg PA900/3X and the BK-9 (I can't recommend the PSR S950 yet, because it cannot loop the imported .wav's) can run .WAV loops alongside the arranger, the sky is the limit as to what you can do!

Bottom line is, the OP still hasn't told us whether this keyboard is needed for live music use, or for use in writing and recording. Or whether he is likely to want to do any other styles on it. If he does want to do electronica AND conventional music as well, possibly the arranger is the best choice, despite not being the best at pure electronica, especially if he wants a keyboard he can play out live on.

But if you are trying to do electronica just at home, I wouldn't bother with a keyboard at all! A dumb MIDI controller keyboard with a bunch of knobs and sliders, and then a ton of VSTi software synths would be the way to go, IMO. That's what most of the big boys use...

My problem is that I can't create music on PC, no tunes come out out of me, and I use PC only to finish the .wav file using WaveLab (Steinberg). I know I can create a tune on any arranger and then use PC with VSTi software etc., but I kinda want 1 keyboard for all for I hate spending time with PC diving into it where 99% of the time is spent on how to do this and that instead of just making pure music.

Have you tried Spectrasonic's Omnisphere? No doubt, if you get on an electronica site, other great VSTi's can be suggested, too.

The trouble with electronica is, it is still a living. breathing form of music. It hasn't petrified into something so formulaic that an arranger can do it well. Arrangers are REAL good at copying older styles, because we know what they should sound like, but electronica is still evolving, happening, and isn't really able to be defined well enough for a style to be written that nails it.

Plus, electronica tends to be VERY different from song to song, or writer to writer. Arrangers tend to smooth over the differences, and just churn out a vanilla copy of the style.

But you seem to be stuck a bit here. You say you need a keyboard that does it all for you to get inspired, but the whole POINT of electronica is that you DON'T do the same thing everyone else is doing! Plus, if you need the keyboard to inspire you, arrangers don't come with a whole lot of modern electronica styles (or what few they have will quickly grow stale on you).

From how you describe your problem, I'd say go for a Motif, M3 or Kronos if you can afford it. Or maybe a used Karma. But beware! If you want to do more normal music AS WELL as electronica, the arranger will be the better tool.

But I still think the BEST route is to find a friend making electronica on a computer, and watch how they do it, and get inspired by THAT! In the end, software is the best way to go to make electronica, you just need to see someone's workflow and use that as inspiration.

Will, I'll try to find a friend I know you're right all about it.