I might finally be ready to roll up my sleeves and experiment with Performance Lists and Performances on the BK-9. I am prepared for extreme frustration! I've seen folks swear that there are unresolved bugs which prevent things from saving or being recalled as intended, and that sounds pretty scary! I have the manual. However, is there a good step-by-step tutorial to setting up performance parameters, using the "lock" or "hold," or whatever it's called to retain certain settings, etc.?

I'm not big on effects. The main things I plan to change with the performances are: style and variation (including user styles); tempo, volume level and mute status of style parts; RH voices, melody intelligence. MAYBE touch-sensitivity. Occasionally I might want to change the status of Bass Inversion and split point (although it might make more sense to "lock" these.) Perhaps also the "Arranger Hold" parameter, and the status of Sync Start. One thing I would like to "lock" permanently are the functions of the D-Beam and assignable switches. So far the assignable switches keep reverting back to some kind of default setting, hence this post!

Trying to benefit from the collective wisdom here. If you know of a good tutorial (either in print or on YouTube, etc.), please post a link! Thanks!!

Well, the thing about a 999 entry Performance List is, if you are willing to sectionalize each song, no matter what you want to do, it’s easy to set up a Performance for each section that doesn’t need any holds, etc.. With 999 to work with,, even 10 changes per song, you still end up with about 100 complete song setups before you need to load another Performance List..!

That’s rather the beauty of the system, rather than pulling your hair out in frustration trying to remember what Holds to enable or disable, just create a Performance for the Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Solos, etc. for each song…

Start perhaps with the Intro setup, tempo, sounds, effects, etc, then save, adjust the Variation, any new sounds, inversion calls etc., then save as Verse, move on to the Chorus, Bridge, whatever…

If you want to step through everything totally hands free, either an FC7 with switches set to Perf Up/Down or a switch into the Control input set to Perf. Up, and just set the Perf’s in the order they need to be (you can always copy and paste you main setups).

Your big problems start when you want to remain old school, call up stuff on the fly, sometimes you need to Hold Tones, or Hold BassInv. etc., but not always…

All in all, unless you are shooting for totally improvised medleys of anything that springs to mind, the Performance List without any arranger Holds is going to work fine,

I wonder what I'm missing then? I've tried a few times to set the assignable switches and they keep reverting to some kind of default setting. Not very useful. And someone in the Roland group on FB swears there's a bug that prevents stuff from saving. Interesting to hear whether others have achieved success with this!

I know for a fact that the As. SW’s are storable per Performance. FC7 and Control Pedal are not storable (they’re in Globals). But what are you trying to set them to? Do you already have any Arranger or OTS Holds set to on? That might interfere with whether they work or not.

Not everything saves in Performances (the Auto/Preset tempo when changing styles on the fly, for instance), but you need to be more specific when talking about things that don’t work. And a lot of people like to throw the word ‘bug’ around when something doesn’t work the way they’d prefer, but unless the manual specifically states that something SHOULD work and it doesn’t, that isn’t a bug, just a design choice someone disagrees with.

Like I said, a lot of the problems occur when combining Hold settings with Performance use. Unless you are REALLY locked into one way of working, always do the same thing every time, and one set of Holds works 100% of the time, I find they are more of a hindrance than a help.

And, of course, are you using a combination of your own Performances, and Performances from the MA? Remember, they’re going to have their own settings, not necessarily what you want. Arranger Chord Recognition type, for instance (I prefer Pianist2 in all situations, and the MA Performances are all written with Intelligent). So if I use an MA Perf., I edit it to have what I prefer and then save to my Master Gig List.

It’s a big change going from old school on the fly operation with Holds to using the Perf. List as your main way of selecting tunes. I’m not sure a combination of both is optimal.

Give me more specifics about what seems to be going wrong for you, maybe we can sort them. But check to make sure all your Holds are off for now, so we eliminate one of the suspects…

BTW, there IS a Assign SW ‘lock”, make sure that’s not engaged…

Wouldn't it be better to have a Factory Reset for Teds, and start fresh...? (of course this is not a good thing if you already have saved setups within the instrument to your liking, but in Teds case, it might bring back everything as it came out of the factory, and start fresh from there...)

Honestly whatever I've done so far is just fooling around. Any performances that I really put time into, are on the USB stick. Really curious to hear whether anyone else has encountered unexpected behavior surrounding the Performance / Performance List. I would like to know if there are "bugs," and what they are before I put a lot of time in!

I have been using the performance lists and performances exclusively since I bought the machine… there are no known “bugs” that I know of.

It may not always work the way you expect, and you do have to learn what parameters do NOT get saved to the performance list, you also have to learn how it interacts with not only the arranger holds and the one touch holds, but also the “Piano“ and “Organ“ buttons, Which override a LOT of performance parameters.

And no, do NOT do a factory reset unless you have written dow ALL the Global parameters that you have changed….

This includes Mastering Tools, FC7 and CTR PED, assignments, any MIDI Sets you may have created, etc., etc. (go look in the Global section if unsure of what they all are).

There is no way to store these other than writing them down!. (This was fixed with the EA7)

A Factory reset will wipe them all… 😨🤯🤬

I can only talk from my own experience. My BK-9 sometimes acts up. It happened to me that I tried to save stuff in the performance memory, just to realize that nothing has changed the next time I selected that performance (after the keyboard was turned OFF and turned back ON). Yes, this happened. Does it happen all the time? >>> answer is "NO". Yes, in my opinion, there might be a glitch in the software somewhere that surfaces every once in a while, but for the majority of the time it works as it should. In my case this happened after I updated to version 1.06. TEds, can you tell us what version your BK-9 is on currently?

I'm also on OS version 1.06 (which as far as I know, was the latest available.) Just yesterday I was demonstrating for someone and encountered a situation where the keyboard wouldn't let me select another style. I know if you hold a rhythm button down too long, it can activate a temporary "lock." Perhaps that's what happened in this case, but a bit disconcerting. I never did figure out what went wrong, I ended up rebooting the board.

Another point of frustration... One of the performances I created myself mutes all but two of the style tracks. When I subsequently select a different style, most of the style tracks remain muted. So I have to open the part mixer and manually unmute them. That's a lot of scrolling and pushing on the rotary wheel. Is there a shortcut to unmute all style tracks, or to make it so that when I select a style it defaults to its factory settings for tempo, voicing, track balance, etc.? Thanks in advance! -Ted

Here is the big issue…. You guys are confusing selecting a style, with selecting a performance.

Selecting a style does NOTHING to the performance (other than change the OTS). The performance is kind of the “one ring to rule them all“ with very few exceptions unless you use arranger holds or 0TS holds.

As I mentioned earlier, the big problems you seem to come across is mixing and matching between using the performances and the performance list, and going old-school and selecting everything by hand. You really need to commit to one, or the other as you are beginning to understand some of the complexities of trying to use both.

As to the “bugs” that you claim to be finding, you need to be FAR more specific about what you are doing, and where you have your arranger and OTS holds set to before you start blaming the OS! As I said, I have been using performances and the performance list since the keyboard first came out, and I have yet to come across a “bug“.

We used to have a specific format for submitting bug reports, that involved repeatability at the old Rolland arranger’s forum. And the first requirement was repeatability…. We all make mistakes in haste when doing things, often leading to unexpected results. It is all too easy to turn around and cry “bug!“ when it turns out to primarily be operator error.

Long before you use the word “bug“, you need a full and thorough understanding of how the performance memory, arranger holds and 0TS holds all interact. At this point, reading about your issues, I would say pretty definitively that you do not understand the system yet.

For instance, if you are using the performance to turn off arranger parts, you will need to select a different performance to turn them all back on at the same time. If you need this In the middle of a song, you need to prepare two performances using the same style and store them next to each other in the list. Alternatively, take a look in the D-Beam Choices to see if you can achieve what you want with a wave of your hand. But this is mostly to turn on or off all ACC part at the same time etc., there is no way to select individual ACC parts other than switching to a different performance.

Perhaps when you come across issues, try to be careful about remembering what you did prior to the problem, turn off the machine, turn it back on again, do EXACTLY the same thing again, see if the same thing happens…

I will do everything in my ability to help you guys get through this, but you DO need to read the manual very carefully. Expecting style parts to mute and unmute simply by selecting another style shows you have not done so yet. Be patient, don’t project your expectations, and we will soon figure all this out. 🎹😎🎹

And yes, a lengthy ‘hold’ of a LOT of different front panel buttons can either ‘lock’ them or bring up an edit screen. Go through the lot of them to see what happens…! (You will see a small lock symbol on screen if they lock or unlock)

Learning these can go a long way to allowing you some degree of old school control without abandoning the Performance system or using hard to get to Arranger Holds. A lengthy press of the tempo button locks the tempo, another unlocks it.

You might also try repeated short presses of the Tone buttons, which will take you quickly to each subsection of each category (but not select them). This is a good way to quickly get to say all the alto saxes, or all the baritones, or all the trumpets when looking for a certain sound.

And don’t forget to use the Favorite Tones feature to quickly collect your favorite ten lead sounds, comps etc.. You can have a different set for each Keyboard Part, so this is a great way to have your solo sound favorites on UPR1, your comping or secondary leads on UPR2, your LH pads or comps on LWR and your favorite basses on MBS…

Time to get deep into the manuals, guys… 🎹📚💻🖥

So, guys… are you still having problems? Have you figured out exactly what it is you had been told were ‘bugs’?

Bit of a thankless task here trying to help people and them just ghost the thread…

Gosh Diki... My house had a plumbing leak in August, so there's large-scale reconstruction going on in my living room. I had to pack up my stand and monitors, etc. There are also endurance bike rides to train for, and NFL football on TV. Keyboard music is one of my many hobbies, so the time table isn't critical.

What I have been able to do, is to program an FS-6 dual footswitch to summon two different alternate performances on a MOMENTARY basis, and then return to a "base" performance as soon as the footswitch is released. If Bass Inversion on the BK-9 had been programmed like it is on the FP-50/FP-80, I wouldn't have to waste the registration selection feature on this functionality. (Recall our previous discussions about this.)

When all the dust settles, my approach will probably utilize almost all of the performance holds. Individual songs in my "gig list" will be set up as user styles with appropriate customizations to part voicing, part volume, etc., and custom OTS. Hopefully I'll also be able to make use of "favorite tones" for on-the-fly changes to the lead instrument. I'm not familiar with the favorite tone feature yet, it's one of the things I need to read about and explore.

Last night I literally sat down and read the manual through page 42. What an amazing instrument! So many of the features I really don't use, and the style structure and editing, I already understand. When it comes to performances and OTS, I really need to study! Thanks for checking in!!

Sorry to hear about your home problems…!

Personally, I don’t use the Favorite Tones much in my solo, but it’s really handy when jamming with others. Be aware, though, you can only use ROM Tones with their ROM MFX. If you find yourself always tweaking a Tone in a Performance (say a different MFX or a shorter release or different EQ) you can’t store the edited Tone in the Favorites. Shame…

Solo, it just makes sense to completely set up each tune without any holds, but start from a template Performance with all the parameters set the way I generally like. That way, when I have the occasional setup I need to be different from my usual settings, I don’t need to go and disable my holds before I can call it up, then call up another with the parameters back to normal before I reengage the holds.

If you are sure you will NEVER change a hold, OK, maybe, but honestly, why use them at all, just start from a template Performance…

One thing I’ve learned about the ‘progress’ of arrangers is, never EXPECT a feature from a different line (or the previous line!) to make it to the next one! There are so many different ways to skin a cat that each one of our personal favorite features is the one thing that bugs another! And there often doesn’t seem to be much continuity in some manufacturers’ design teams. For the Chord Sequencer (a Roland invention) to have disappeared from the line (after the G1000) through the entire V/VA/G/E series, only to make a brief reappearance in the BK-9 alone and to disappear again with the EA7 doesn’t seem to indicate any continuity at all!

All we can do is roll up our sleeves and find workarounds. Fortunately, you usually can with a bit of ingenuity (I like your dual f/s idea), but sometimes it works out better to reevaluate your entire workflow and see if it’s easier for us to change than the arranger! I railed against the loss of the touch screen for ages, but once I decided that, seeing as my Performance List slots jumped from 128 to 999, simply taking care of all the changes I was making using the screen by moving to a different Performance, I found I was doing a fraction of the work I used to have to do while trying to play at the same time, and now I seldom miss the touch screen.

It’s nice when our arrangers are flexible. But even better when we are! 🎹😎

I want the holds and the "momentary" performance functionality to be able to activate Bass Inversion in real time during a song. (This allows me to play that odd "slash chord" when the rest of the song consists of basic chords.) The other "momentary" performance will temporarily change the Arranger Type (e.g., chord recognition mode) from "Intelligent" to "Standard." This will allow me to play occasional open fifths, 7ths with no 3rd, etc., while still using Intelligent mode for the majority of the song.

In the books I've been playing from, "open" chords are pretty rare (except for Sus2 and Sus4 which are already recognized in Intelligent mode.) But I'm also thinking about your "trick" with the chord sequencer and the NTA.

Casio seized upon Roland's missed opportunity here... Casio "Fingered 1" mode is very similar to Roland's Intelligent mode. However- on the Casio, if you play [1+5] you get an open Fifth. On the Roland, playing [1+5] triggers a Major chord, which is really dumb, since you could already get a Major chord by playing only the root, or 1+3+5. What a shame we can't hack the OS and make small changes to things like this! I would probably be investing my setup time in a Casio MZ-X500, except that the MIDI implementation on that board is half-baked, and the keybed is rubbish!

I’m pretty sure that anyone used to a different system can make an argument for their preferred mode being logical too!

The bottom line is, pick any one system, you can find strengths and flaws, but over the years of using one system, you play to its strengths and play around its weaknesses until they become so ingrained you may not even realize you are playing around a weakness.

That’s kind of the nature of the beast… every chord, every note combination, is open to interpretation. CEGA might be C6. It might be Am7/C. CGD might be Copen2. It might be Gsus4/C. There really is no way that an arranger can tell without additional input (a bass pedal input, or a two handed chord with the root doubled, etc.). Chords are contextual, and that’s outside modern arrangers’ capabilities so far.

So we live with the system. And have to accept when it all goes wrong!

Technology has always pushed forward regardless. There are many typists that still prefer a mechanical typewriter, their careers were built around the rhythm of accounting for the travel of the letter as it struck the paper. But they adapted, or found a different career… Usually that adaptation creates its own strengths.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but holds aren’t linked to Performances, are they? That’s kind of the whole point of holds. So I’m still a little unsure if they are your answer as there’s no way to defeat them on the fly. You’re still trying to find a system that allows you to go old school when simply using the Performance system to do everything in one go is how the arranger is designed.

Even selecting styles is a massive task on the fly with many panel button presses to find a style not on the first couple of pages of the ROM categories, or a fair bit of scrolling if you keep User Styles in one folder so they can have custom OTS’s. Ditto for Tones unless you are content with the ROM sound with its ROM MFX. I wish Favorites had allowed editing, but no luck!

We are victims of our own desires! We all wanted more sounds, more styles, more effects, more more more! Now we are stuck trying to wade through all those choices on the fly and it seems that it just got too hard to do well without it detracting from the art of playing. 😎🎹

I haven't fully tested my assumptions yet. But it appears from reading the manual *and the addenda* that both Peformances and OTS have "holds." There's a lot of overlap among parameters between the two sets of holds. This could be why some people swear there are bugs in the performance workflow.

My plan is to have the Performances hold everything EXCEPT the Arranger Type (e.g. chord recognition mode.) So using the pedal to momentarily select an alternate performance will only change the chord fingering. It will work like the Shift key on a typewriter or computer keyboard. Releasing the pedal will restore the default Intelligent mode chord recognition.

I'm hoping to use OTS to change everything EXCEPT the chord recognition. Essentially this is the inverse of what I'm doing with performances. So selecting a different OTS will change the part voicing, Melody Intelligence, etc. In some cases also the selected style variation, triggering a fill-in, etc. The only thing this OTS-based approach WON'T allow me to do, is to easily use two different styles for the same song (because the OTS is contained WITHIN its parent Style.)

My intention is to choose the most appropriate ROM style for a song in my playlist. Save a copy of that style to the USB stick, named for the song. Customize the tempo, OTS, and rhythm part voicing appropriately. Save the edited OTS, and then save the whole style again to the same location (overwrite.) In some cases multiple songs might be based on the same ROM style. Hopefully I'll be able to customize the styles enough to prevent obvious repetition.

Regarding ease of access, I guess my thought was to save the custom styles in sub-folders on the USB stick. Right now I don't play that many different songs. Perhaps eventually I'll have to organize them by genre, or alphabetically.

With over 1500 ROM tones to choose from, I think I can find some that are suitable. Most of the time my part voicing will be selected by the OTS (which hopefully also save the FX.) But when I'm practicing, experimenting, etc., having some Favorite ROM tones handy will make things fast and fun.

I suppose my approach is different from most people's, and not strictly what the programmers intended. But the beauty of these instruments is that they are customizable, which allows them to acommodate a variety of work-flows and levels of playing skill.

What kind of number are we talking about when saying ‘not that many’ songs? Some say this for a few tens, some a few hundred, some say it for a few thousand! My gig playlist is about 400 distinct tunes, but I have other Perf. lists optimized for live band play, Xmas tunes, and different singers I’ve worked with. In fairness, a few dozen entries takes next to no time (maybe a day or so, which is FAR less time than you’ve spent just trying to figure out the bass inversion toggle issue) to create so you have everything set exactly the way you want.

The problem with using OTS is that they are stored in the style itself, not the Performance, so if you want a style to have different OTS for different songs, you need to create a user style for each. That means a lot more styles in the sub-folders (and using sub-folders necessities a LOT more scrolling and pressing to navigate on the fly) because you cannot overwrite a ROM style, nor place the styles under the style category buttons. They MUST go on the stick, which means a lot of navigation on the fly.

If you’re only doing a few songs (whatever that means!) I think you are making things massively complicated using holds and hand selecting styles when simply creating one or two Performances per song and that’s the ONLY thing you need to select. The Performance for one thing will call up the style no matter where it is. Which calls up your OTS. Which calls up ALL the settings. Which calls up any Tone you want initially before you engage the OTS. No holds needed.

And if you want to move to a different Performance (for another song or an alternate keyboard layout) without changing tempo, rather than using holds, a long press on the tempo button engages a ‘lock’ which can quickly be defeated again before your next song.

I think you are massively overthinking this, when the Performance list automates basically EVERYTHING, and reduces the whole lot to one button press.

By the way, how are you succeeding getting a momentary toggle out of the dual switches to move Perf. Up/down? I didn’t think that could be done, each is a separate function…

Wow, a lot of questions. I'll try...
How many songs? Right now about 20-30, plus a handful more that I only practice and play during the Christmas season.

I know that the OTS are contained within the styles, which means at least one custom style per song, stored on the USB stick.

If I intended to use "next performance"-type functionality exclusively (instead of OTS) to change voicing, style variations, etc., most likely there would be more than two performances per song.

To obtain a momentary change of the performance, I'm using a MIDI Solutions Dual Footswitch Controller module. A "black box" between the Boss FS-6 and MIDI in. It's programmed to call a specific performance number on pedal press, and returns to the base performance on release. One limitation is that a limited selection of MIDI messages can be sent on release; one of them is Program Change. I set this up with a base performance and two alternates. One of the alternates has Bass Inversion enabled, the other has 'Standard' chord recognition (instead of Intelligent) to permit the playing of "open" chords. Releasing either pedal on the dual footswitch immediately returns to Intelligent mode.

The FP-50/FP-80 has Bass Inversion programmed as a momentary function using the pedals. This is very useful in real time play (much faster and more reliable than pressing the pedal once to turn Bass Inv on and again to turn it off.) Also, most Roland arrangers going back to the G-series have had built-in footswitch functions to "toggle" chord recognition between Piano Style and Standard, or Piano Style and Intelligent. What I'm doing is toggling between Intelligent and Standard. I probably could have taken a different approach if Roland recognized [1+5] as an open Fifth in Intelligent mode. But it doesn't. And the songs that call for power chords just don't sound right without them!

The easiest way to gain the above functionality and not have to embed these changes in successive performances several times during a song, is to embed Bass Inv and Arranger Type in top-level performances so the foot switches ALWAYS do the same thing. (This also facilitates learning and practicing new songs that include these types of chords.) Once the song becomes part of my "gig list," the rest of the song-specific changes will be stored as a customized user style and complementary OTS.

So... is it possible on a BK to call a specific style number from the USB stick with a MIDI message? Even if the style has to be stored in the root folder? If so, there might be iPad apps or an outboard sequencer that would allow direct selection and reduce the "scrolling and pressing?" Just thinking aloud here.

Not user styles. The ROM styles can be called up.

I see where you’re coming from, excuse me for confusing that you had achieved a momentary Perf latch using the control pedal input.

You are still massively limited by this system though, because your MIDI Solutions box will only toggle between two Performances, leaving you to hand select everything else.

There is a solution if you are willing to give up on the momentary aspect and use the dual f/s into the FC7 input… one for Perf up, one for Perf down. You go Perf Up when you want Bass Inv selected, and then tap Perf Down to go back. As they are so close together, you might be able to do it with very little foot movement. I’ve run keyboards with separate sustain pedals for UPR and LWR before and it didn’t take long for me to easily use one or the other or both without looking.

Another thing to look into using the FC7 input is, is there such a thing as a pedal that sends a contact on the down-press, and another one on the release? Rather than do it with MIDI, get a single pedal to send different signals on pressing and releasing? That seems something that might be worth investigating…

If either of these workarounds are doable, this frees you up to use the Performance List’s full power rather than just two entries and hand select everything else. Actually, I DO use multiple Performances for the same song when I need larger changes between section than I can get with say just going from UPR1 to UPR2, etc.. I just put them in the order I need them in the Perf List and call them SONG, SONG SOLO, SONG BRIDGE etc.. Then I can step through them either by pressing the panel up/down buttons (which is what I do currently), or use switches into the FC7 input if I end up having to do it hands free.

Personally, I think you are so hell bent on doing the slash chords with a momentary that you have saddled yourself with an absolute nightmare of other things you are forced to do because you can’t use the Performance List. I would seriously suggest you try to get used to doing Perf up/down with a pair of footswitches and all your other issues vanish…

MIDI Solutions actually makes an F8 version of their footswitch controller, which could instantly access any of EIGHT preset performances, and still return to a default one upon release. With more footswitches it could be tricky to step on the correct one in the "heat of battle." Plus, all I'm looking to do is to create two momentary "shift registers" which enable slash chords or alternately, open chords. That requires two footswitches for the BK-9 (or just one for a top-end Casio which natively recognizes open fifths, or the FP-80.)

A system based on Perf Up-Down could work with three performances in the list. Performance 002 would be the default. But an accidental double-tap could be disaster! Does the performance list "wrap?" i.e., If I have three performances in the list and I try to go "down" from Performance 001, does it just stay on 001, or does it go to Performance 003?

I've scoured the web for years, and unfortunately NO, the pedal you describe doesn't exist. But it could, and it should!! It would have to have some customizable delays, debounce interval, etc., to work for a variety of users and keyboards. I'm a very thorough person and I followed that bread crumb trail to its end. The consensus is that I need to take my requirements to the engineering department of a local college. I came very close to achieving the same "toggle to momentary" functionality by marrying the MIDI Solutions Footswitch Controller to the MIDI Solutions Relay (I got it working for Bass Inv.) But- this still only gives me ONE momentary function, and I need two. Also, Arranger Type (Intelligent / Standard) is NOT selectable via footswitch. It HAS to be embedded in a Performance or OTS.

Even if I were to use Perf Up-Down, that really just puts me back to where I am now. If the I allow the Performances to change anything other than Bass Inv or Arranger Type, they would have to be strategically arranged in the proper sequence for every song. I would lose the ability to practice/play a brand-new song containing any type of chord on sight, using a consistent interface. That's what my custom performance "masks" will allow me to do.

Other than the scrolling and selecting a styles when I want to play the next song, I'm not sure that setting up custom styles/OTS is really more effort than custom Performances. I'm determined to try it for a few songs and see how it goes!

I’ve used an FC7 for Perf up/down before, and I had virtually no problem. And a quick double tap can take you through a ‘center’ performance from one below to one above with the same degree of precision.

Think about it for a second… your right foot executes sustain presses with millisecond accuracy. Your left foot is equally capable, and as long as the switches are tactile enough that you can feel them at all (I used to have a bit of a problem with those ultra cheap plastic tablet style ones… too light to feel, too easy to kick around), you should have no problem.

After all, most organists can work up to two octaves of bass pedals and play intricate lines without looking or clamming. Took a bit of practice, but we’re talking about just three switches and the odd occasional press or two.

Worth a try, if you ask me. Remember, the Performance can also call up layers, effects, Part volumes, mutes, assign switch layouts, d-beam assignments, changes to velocity sensitivity, expression pedal assignments and a host of other things the OTS can’t. You lose so much restricting yourself to just two or three Performances.

You’ll never know until you try, at least! 😎🎹

I definitely agree with you regarding the switches being tactile and high-quality.

I started with a Yamaha footswitch (which was pretty decent quality.) But the travel was vague, and it was light enough to skate across my hardwood floor. I tried a long sustain pedal next. It was better than the Yamaha footswitch but had too much travel for a quick press. Then I found the Boss FS-6 dual footswitch. Two switches in a metal housing that weighs more the a pound. ​The switches have a positive 'clicky' feel, and most importantly they press straight DOWN, rather than forward and down. There are even channels milled into the side of the unit so you can group multiple FS-6's together.

The FC7 is no longer made by Roland. But if you wanted to make your own "counterfeit" FC7 with the appropriate DIN connector, the FS-6 is a good choice for the footswitches, if a bit expensive.

I believe that the FS-6 uses the exact same mechanism as the FC7, they look identical and feel pretty similar.

The main difference is that on the FC7 the switches are closer together, which for your intended purpose is far better. The FS-6’s switches are just a bit too far separated for one foot to quickly press both one straight after the other for a quick up/down without quite a bit of motion. The FC7 allowed far faster transition.

The FC7 input accepts any simple switches of the correct polarity, so the world’s your oyster if you want to try to build something custom. But before you start, it’s worth starting with your feet! What’s a comfortable distance between them to quickly go from one to another? And what’s a good geometry? Personally, I think that something laid out a bit more radially, a bit less linear than the FC7 would allow you to pivot your foot on your heel to go without looking from one switch to the next. The FS-6 looks like it needs the whole foot moved to go from one to the other.

If I remember rightly, the FS-6 switch mechanisms screw into the case, it might be worth investigating fabricating a different case for them to get them MUCH closer together.

By the way, on a different note, have you explored using the D-Beam to turn Parts on and off? I find that incredibly useful (probably the only non-gimmicky use for the D-Beam!) to strip away the backing and go to just bass and drums for a section, or to drop out the drums for an interlude, etc..

Combine it with the Track Mute button, and you can get some quite complex remixing. The Track Mute assignments are global, but what the D-Beam does is per Performance. If you aren’t already hip to it, give it a try!

Just a quick thought, but have you tried looking at a single foot switch that has dual contacts ganged together, but one wired normally open, and the other wired normally closed?

Essentially, one of them should not register as a contact until the pedal is released, the other one will register as a contact as the pedal is pressed. Two separate outputs (one from each contact) going to two separate FC7 inputs.

That ought to at least give you a toggle between two adjacent performances.

Or have you actually tried this?

Diki I did buy something like this on eBay and wired it to dual 1/4" jacks. After a lot of experimentation I concluded that what I really need (and the rest of the world could probably use, but doesn't know it yet) is a logic circuit that transforms a prolonged pedal depression into a brief "open" period; and also the pedal RELEASE into a similarly brief "open" period. The circuit has to continuously monitor the pedal state, and generate an "open pulse" of specified duration whenever it detects a change.

I've been assured that someone with more programming skill than I possess could easily do this with something like an Arduino and perhaps a couple of relays. I just haven't made it a priority to sit down with the head of the engineering dep't at my local community college and explain my requirements. With sufficient adjustability it would be a staple money-making accessory for keyboardists and guitarists.

Meanwhile, the system I have cobbled together appears to meet my needs. I just have to put the time in to set up the OTS's and see if that will meet my needs. Right now I'm dealing with my house reconstruction and other priorities.

I’ve accidentally used a footswitch of the incorrect polarity before, and the behavior was exactly what you seem to want, the action didn’t happen until the release of the pedal. You say you tried this before, but on what function?

Can you elaborate?

To be honest a pair of tablet style footswitches strapped together so pressing one would press the other sounds like it would work if wired to the FC7 input’s Perf. Up/Down functions. It’s not a binary function (unlike sustain with an on/off state) so pressing the contact immediately triggers the function and releasing it does nothing. I don’t see how not releasing the on state for a long time (which would be the reversed polarity switch’s normal condition) would interfere with the reception of the on state from the normal polarity switch… they are two different functions, not the on/off state of a single function.

Before you go your far more elaborate and complicated route, I’d give this potential solution another try.

Several months ago I bought an industrial switch that would be used to operate something like a commercial sewing machine. It's mounted in a heavy metal body that rests on the floor and the pedal is set at an ergonomic angle. It has two sets of contacts. When you step on the spring-loaded switch, it breaks the first set of contacts and makes the second set. When you release the switch, it restores the first circuit. The generic type is a make-break-make, or single pole, double throw switch that's momentary in one direction.

I'm pretty sure that Roland pedals are normally closed, i.e., the circuit is conductive ("closed") by default. When you press a Roland pedal, it opens the circuit. When you release, it closes the circuit. So a switch like the one I bought with two circuits, opens and then closes the circuit potentially very quickly, with one pedal press.

By connecting both sets of contacts together, I thought that this switch would emulate a quick press-and-release when I stepped down on it, and again when I let up. However... it turns out that there is a minimum interval needed to activate built in functions like Bass Inv. I discovered that you can actually press the pedal so quickly that the keyboard doesn't reliably detect the change. Through experimentation I learned that the BK-9 was faster processing and more sensitive than my old E-50. The BK-7m was slightly faster still. But none of them reacted consistently enough to use this approach practicing or playing.

If I have something custom built with an Arduino, it will have to continuously compare the present state of the footswitch with what's in memory to reliably detect a change of state. It would also need to have programmable delays that could be set from "real time" to a few hundred milliseconds. This customizability would ensure that it would function consistently with any vintage of equipment. Discussion boards suggest that I'm not the only one searching for a "toggle to momentary pulse" trigger device. But as of last year, I didn't find any that were mass-produced commercially.

The MIDI solutions Footswitch controller with its capability for "on release" messaging must also have built-in logic for analyzing the state of the pedal. Since it uses MIDI and can be merged into the MIDI stream, it leaves the FC7 port, hold, and footswitch available for other functions.

I've only messed with the D-Beam a little. The lighting in my dining room is tricky. Keyboard is by a large window, so it actually varies by time of day. Other than the harp, chimes, etc., I think I would rather trigger the other functions with footswitch or the assignable switches.

How fast was the response back in the days when Roland did have a momentary function for bass inversion?

I would have thought that with the note ‘jumps’ if you change from inversion on to off (like you get if you input a chord fractionally late and the current chord starts then instantly jumps to the new chord) would make a very short duration press into inverted and back rather unmusical. One would have thought that if you need an inversion or slash chord, you would need to hold the pedal down for the duration of the chord?

So the issue of switch ‘bounce’ is rather moot, isn’t it? I’m not talking about a switch that engages bass inversion on on press and back to normal on the second… I’m talking about a system that is normally regular chords and only goes to inversions on the pedal down, and immediately back on release… but this isn’t something you’d quickly hit and release like a sustain. And I don’t think it is a function of the switch itself that is the reason for a certain window of recognition for the function, but more an OS thing. It doesn’t make musical sense for ultra rapid changes of bass inv. on/off, and it would certainly tax the style engine.

It sounds like this can be achieved simply ganging two cheap pedals of opposite polarity together and using two different inputs…. You might get some unpredictable results if you press and release very quickly, but I don’t see how you wouldn’t no matter what system was used.

As to the Part Mute functions, I believe only the D-Beam can achieve these…. It has always frustrated me that Roland (and every other manufacturer, if the truth be told) seem to decide that a full selection of functions for ALL possible control inputs is too complicated for us poor dumb arranger players!

But the Part on/off is a binary function, not really a momentary, so it lends itself well to the D-beam. Build a little hood to shade it like you would to read the main displays outdoors, you should be good to go…

Diki I never actually played an FP-50 or FP-80. But it's apparent from the owner's manual that these style pianos have Bass Inv implemented as a momentary function, optionally assignable to one of the three piano pedals. So it certainly can be done and has been done with professional results.

The FP-50/80 are contemporary with the BK-series and may share some of the OS. The BK acknowledges the status of Bass Inv at the same time it recognizes the chord. If you do anything with the pedal after that, it doesn't have any effect until you play the next chord. There are no weird portamento effects, and it doesn't sound like the bass player swallowed a clam. It works seamlessly and as expected.

Depending on the mix of chords in the song, turning bass inv on and off in real time can save big "jumps" of the left hand, or wide finger spans such as would needed to play Cmaj7 with root bass, etc.

Yamaha knows this too. That's part of the justification for developing their flagship "AI Fingered" mode, which gives an on-bass chord for two-note fingering, and the root bass when three or more notes are played. This approach introdcues its own well-known set of problems. For most of the songs I play, Roland's chord intelligence -- with momentary bass inversion controlled by a foot pedal -- is an easier and more consistent approach. I offer the details here so that others may consider it, and adopt it for themselves.

In that case, I’d probably not worry about switch bounce, depending on whether a change of Performance messes with the chord ‘hold’ until the next chord. Mind you, from the front panel, changing inversion seems to be not dependent on another chord coming in at all. But yes, it does seem to wait for the next NOTE in the bassline before it changes.

I rather sidestep the whole issue myself by generally playing a full keyboard part for the first verse and chorus in Pianist2 mode, which naturally gives me the correct inversions (while I sing the head) and use the chord sequencer to play the solo sections so I don’t have to input any chords at all or worry about their inversions during solos or improvisations. Even the most basic two handed chords can drive the arranger while keeping the bass inversion correct.

But I still think the two opposite polarity ganged pedals should work to go momentarily from one Performance to the next and back. Have you tried it yet? There are plenty of tablet style footswitches that are switcheable polarity and quite cheap.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KSP20--on-stage-stands-ksp20-keyboard-sustain-pedal for instance. Just glue or Velcro something hard across the pair to make them both work at the same time, and build an FC7 DIN plug to 1/4” female jacks converter….

Push comes to shove and you end up not liking the system, you can always retask them to other useful FC7 functions like Leslie fast/slow or MFX on/off etc..

The Performance can store far more than OTS can, I still think it’s your better bet and will dramatically reduce your having to navigate around to call up custom styles.