Can anyone here tell me how to use my SD2 unit with my BK-9?
I think it would be a great combo.

Deane

Nay Deane,

Wait for the T5, stop messing with Midi, never catch on!!!

Hi Deane

Everything except the volume control has to be controlled via Midi on the SD2 therefore you need a keyboard that has a comprehensive Midi control system, unfortunately the lower range arrangers (And all the Yamaha Arrangers) have a very limited Midi control system so you will never be able to get the best out of the SD2, just the basic sounds.

You will find a Midi implementation chart in the BK9 & SD 2 manuals which will explain what they can and cannot do, and it is then just a matter of matching everything up.

Have a read of this article to give you a basic understanding of Midi and how to use it for what you require, you will then be able to decide whether the BK 9 & SD2 will work effectively together for what you want.

Hope this helps

Bill

The BK-9's MIDI implementation is quite advanced, allowing up to eight separate MIDI setups (combinations of channel selection for RH and Style/SMF Parts to be sent out via MIDI) freely linkable to each Performance.

So, essentially, you can pick and choose what gets sent to the SD-1 and what gets played by the BK-9, for each Performance.

And Tony... really? The best you can come up with is a suggestion to buy an as yet unreleased arranger that will be more than twice the OP's gear's cost combined? Right...

Deane,

I think the BK-9 is the same as the Yamaha arrangers and will filter out non-Roland sysex codes needed to setup the SD-2.

Bill G

The BK-9 sequencer can send sys-ex. If there is particular code you need to send to the SD-2, you can send it with this. Doesn't matter what kind it is.

But essentially, one sort of expects that the SD-2 is a sound bank, and I am not sure why you'd need to blow sys-ex at it? Primarily, you need notes, and controllers, and you are good to go, surely?

The trick is to get the master arranger to decide which Parts get played internally, and which get sent via MIDI, right? That's a snap for the BK-9.

Great Diki,

why don't you volunteer to do it for Deane as he does not know.

Bill G

What you need essentially for using the SD 2 is the possibility to send MSB/LSB and PC midi commands (bank change and program change) in order to select the sounds you want. I'm not sure BK-9 can do that in a flexible way. The MOX can do it, it has got 128 master storage locations, and in each master you have several zones which can send a MSB/LSB/PC setting each, which changes the selected sound of the SD2.

Another option is to use the SD2 with an iPad if you use the app "Set List Maker". This app allows you to create set lists and store midi commands for each item in the list.

It would also be possible to prepare midi files just for the purpose of sending the msb/lsb/pc commands to the SD2. You could call up the midi file stored on the BK-9 USB drive and quickly start and stop it, so that the SD2 switches to the desired sounds.