Just your opinion on style comparison on those three keyboards.

Is Roland styles as busy as Korg?

Jamman,
Many of the styles are very busy in variations 3 and 4. I have not yet learned how to adjust the global EQ settings of the keyboard so what follows might not be the entire story. What I am noticing is a a lot of the styles are "Bass" heavy and the programming uses a lot of "ensemble" tones which are sounding very "muddy". My setup is simple - a single Bose L1 Compact using both outputs from the BK-9 into the Bose. Like I said, I have not yet learned how to balance the sounds or deal with the global EQ settings which might make a big difference.

Deane

Hammer,

Good luck on your journey. I love trying different models. I only liked the VA series and nothing else (maybe the EM-2000) excited me.

Deane, as we discussed, I'll try to get over there and maybe help a little with the operating system, before you make a final decision.
On BK7m, settings are quite easy to change and save, but there are default settings that may be causing you problems.
Hope to see you soon,
DonM

A step in the right direction. I found a setting where I could turn off the equalizer for both the style and the RH lead voices. It makes a big difference and cleans up the sounds a ton.

Deane

I have a question re. the BK-9 that the manual didn't clarify much: I know that it can play wav files from a thumb driv\e, but does it apply time stretching too? The manual is rather confusing and says that you must choose the same tempo as the style and verify that it doesn't go out of synch in time.

YES

I have been backing off the EQ and compressor settings, but not turning them off altogether. TBH, a lot of the styles need a considerable rework to get right if you do that... The EQ and comp tends to flatten out some of their inconsistency.

About the one thing I do is jack up the bass and drums to nearly flat out... This is a bit faster than turning all the OTHER Parts down, and also has the benefit of balancing the default RH voice volumes, which are, IMO, too loud. OTOH, I don't think I've heard more than a handful of user demos on anything, where I didn't feel the RH was too strong, so your mileage may vary! I've played in real bands too long to feel comfortable hearing my parts front and center!

Take a good look at that BK-9 editor... it might be time to get a new iPad!

I wouldn't want to time stretch too far away, though. In fairness, some of the better software time-stretching apps do a better job, so if you want to go outside 10BPM from a loop's original tempo, you'll probably have fewer artifacts by stretching it in the computer first. It's not that the Roland is bad at this (I've heard PA3x's and S950's time stretching algorithms, and they seem no better), it is simply that good computer software is better...

Are you sure of it? did you really try it?
App Store says that it is compatible with iPad, iOS 5.1 required...
if you can give it a try... I'm interested too on this issue...

Thanks!