I have not experimented with the audio loops, but you can assign one to each of top 7 keys, or to switches on the FC7.
Them seem to be instantly available after assignment.

If I were to decide against the BK9, it would be for these reasons alone:
1. No text display
2. No Vocal Harmonizer
These two things make it necessary to carry and hook up more peripheral gear.
3. That's about it actually. You can make it do about anything you like with a little work and ingenuity. For example, I'm looking at workarounds for lack of break/fill, and there are some.

Don,

Is it easy to set up a series of sounds and a style quickly, as in an unexpected request for a tune using instruments you don't often use?

i.e. on the Tyros4 or PSR you can temporarily change the style's four OTS sounds without storing the style. Not lightning fast, but quick nonetheless.

Even if you only have to change one sound, it's still pretty convenient.

When you reload or change the style the OTS returns to what was there previously.

What features of the BK-9 make it a keeper, if you could find workarounds for the problems?

Ian

Vocal harmony I was using less and less. Why not audio loop your harmony (real voice)? You can loop an entire audio and crop it by assigning to the intro buttons, or you could just sing harmony as the song goes and it will sync with the lead voice.

Lyrics I will use my iPad (incredible).

Ian, yes it is quite easy. And you can change the OTS settings without saving them.
You can set up a Favorites Bank of nine of your best sounds and call any of them up with one button. Also I have assign a foot switch to toggle between Upper one and Upper two sounds.
The Favorites work the same way if you have Performance list pulled up. One touch instant recall for you favorite 9 performances. After that you can scroll, or push Numeric button and then enter the number for the sound, style or performance, depending on which page is open on the right-hand display.
Very neat!
The real time controls are way better than I thought they would be.
What I'm fighting is changing the way I like to do things. I am very please with the sounds, styles and operation. It's a great keyboard. May or may not be the best fit for me at this time, but I'm going to give it a thorough chance to be!
At this point, I must have, in addition to the BK9, a laptop, a Harmonizer, and FC7, a volume pedal, a Sustain pedal, a Control pedal, and another pedal for the Harmonizer. Plus all these things need room to plug in wall warts and cables to connect everything.
I am a little spoiled by the PA3X. ALL self-contained with only the EC5 pedal board (three pounds, I'm guessing.)
But that's not comparing apples to apples, there is a $2,000. difference in price!
I'm having fun doing this. So far.

Zuki,
I really don't want to do all that recording and looping. Just wanta push the button and have harmony. I don't use it nearly as much these days, but some songs beg for it, so don't want to give it up.
I do too many hundreds of songs from requests to prepare all of them ahead of time. Now, if the audio loops would follow chords, that might be a different ball game!
I could sit and jam with these organs, pianos and even guitars all night, trying out all the styles. In fact that's just what I've been doing.

When I had mt E60, I remember the best workaround was to use the short intro 1 as a break. As it is only one bar long, it fits perfectly.



That was indeed the first thought that I had when I first looked at BK9. And Diki confirmed it should be possible... But that is a little bit of work. A workaround...

I sometimes use the style creator ASSEMBLY to put all the parts from the one bar ENDING ONE (except for the drums) into INTRO ONE, which is usually one bar, as Adimatis says above.

I then remove/delete any INTRO ONE drum parts that don't belong, like maybe a stick (or hi-hat) count-in.

The beauty of using the INTRO ONE is that when you use it as a stop/fill/break, the style always returns to the last MAIN VARIATION you were on, OR the one you select just before using the INTRO ONE.

You can also hit the INTRO ONE button a bar ahead of where you want the stop/fill/break to occur.

I do all my custom/edited styles in this way...works really well.

It's easier, more effective, and sounds better than just using a foot-switch to do a stop at a turnaround or end of verse/chorus.

Ian

Don, understand you need more a turnkey system because of your busy schedule. This is one time I have to just study and set up things. Might never play out again ???

I am very interested in the audio function (the kid is coming back in me ). If it will do what I want, I would take it just for that. The "next up" loop would allow almost anything (different chords, etc).

I keep reading and will be ready for the board next week.

Thanks for sharing your findings and thoughts. I'll do the same in time.

Don
Wouldn't the additon of an Ipad solve those problems.? I really believe it was Rolands intention that the two be used together to expand the BK9's capabilities. As its stands alone its fine but to push the capabilities add the IPad. And Fran mentioned an IPAD Harmony App coming so your there.