In the past, I created some performances for my BK-9 based on user styles that had certain rhythm tracks muted. If I play a song using one of these performances, and then subsequently select a DIFFERENT performance that's based on a factory style, all of the tracks don't play. Because the mixer settings carry over from my first performance, some of the style tracks remain muted.

I know that I can open the mixer window and manually unmute the style tracks one by one. But is there a shortcut to unmute all of them with a single button press? Or perhaps I need to release some kind of lock, so that when I select the second performance, the track mute status defaults to what's programmed in the newly-selected performance (i.e., all tracks unmuted)?

I know that I could go back, edit my custom performances, and simply delete the musical content from the muted tracks. Then I could unmute the now-empty tracks, and re-save the performance, thereby eliminating the source of the problem. But that would be a tedious task. I can't help but think that there's a more streamlined way to prevent this unwanted interaction, taking advantage of the built-in settings.

My fellow Roland BK users, have you ever encountered this issue? If so, how did you deal with it??

You’re doing this on the fly, while the style keeps playing, right? If you’re stopped, the new Performance should completely override everything, unless you have some Performance Holds enabled. Check into those.

Check your OTS Holds as well, if you’re using those…

Make sure you aren’t confusing styles and Performances. Selecting a different style won’t override the current Performance settings unless you have the OTS enabled.

Thanks for the reply Diki. No, I'm selecting the style while everything is stopped. The new style actually loads and plays, no issue there. But some tracks for drum, ACC, etc. are muted because they were muted in my previous performance (which was based on a user style.)

My user style was based on a factory style. I was lazy and instead of deleting content from unwanted tracks, I just muted the whole track, and that is reflected in the Mixer screen. I'm not doing anything with OTS, so I can't imagine that's the issue.

I will look into performance holds. But I would think that when you load a new style, the BK would automatically enable all tracks at the volumes they had when the style was saved. Since one style can vary greatly from another, that seems like the most useful thing to do. Is there a parameter that controls this behavior? Thanks all!

I want to emphasize that what I'm selecting is a new STYLE; not a new performance. So in theory whatever settings were in effect with the old performance should remain.

I guess the behavior I'm desiring is that everything related to the style gets reset to the defaults put in place when the style was saved, and it ignores the current state of the board.

I think you have it backwards. Loading a style loads ONLY the style. It isn’t your ‘previous’ Performance, it’s still the same one. So if Parts are muted in the Performance with the previous style, they’re muted with the new style. Because you haven’t changed the Performance…

It’s the Performance that dictates the status of the Parts. Not the style. Whether it’s a ROM style or a User style.

There is a workaround which sort of simplifies setting up custom mutes for User styles, though.

You don’t need to go to the full Style Editor, you can mute style Parts with the Makeup Tools and overwrite the original user style (that way, any Performances that use that style won’t have to be reconnected to the edited style). It’s a simple job, takes a few seconds.

Now, you can load that style into a Performance that has all Parts enabled, but because Makeup Tools has muted the Parts, nothing will play on the muted ones. You can then load any style into the Performance afterwards, and they will play normally.

Your only issue would be if the style you want to mute certain Parts also needs to be used with the full mix occasionally. In this case, you’d save the edited style with a new name so the full original is still available.

Other brands may let the style set up the registration, but the Roland Way has always put the Performance as the master..!

There are also two other ways to mute and unmute certain Parts in a Performance that initially has all Parts enabled. One is custom (but global) the other has a preset selection…

The Track Mute feature can be set up to mute any combination of style Parts (but the setting is saved globally, not per Performance).

And the D-Beam has a whole set of useful mute groups that you can select which one you need per Performance. Stuff like ADrums, ABass, ABass and ADrums, ACC (but not individual ACC Parts).

They can also be used in combination… There’s some quite cool ‘remix’ possibilities playing around with these while a style plays:

Drums drop out
Bass and ACC drops out (drum solo, in effect!)
Bass and certain ACC drops out
Drum and Bass drops out and only certain ACC Parts play

Etc…

It’s quite fun to remix the style on the fly (and I think you can assign Track Mute to control input or FC7 for hands free). 🎹😎

I think this is what I misconstrued. My mistake is selecting that performance with the tracks muted first, because it "contaminates" the mixer leaving many tracks muted. I should either edit that performance to delete the content and unmute the tracks; OR, select a different performance with all tracks unmuted, which will then support the further selection of factory styles. Thank you as usual for sharing your wisdom!

The ROM Performances tend to put all Part Volumes to 100, so that seems a good place to start. If a user style is out of whack at those settings, the best solution is to Makeup Tools the style so it sounds balanced at those volume settings. Now you can swap between user styles and factory styles and your balances should be consistent. Me, I tend to push the ADrums and ABass a little hotter (110 or so) to get more of a live band feel, but you probably have your own preferences..!

The larger problem is that you still seem to want to swap styles in and out of the same Performance, rather than the far more comprehensive solution of creating a Performance with the new style. If the two styles are something you tend to switch between on the fly, place them adjacent in the Perf. List…

With as many styles available, and navigation in the user style section buried so deep in the folder structure, the Perf. List seems such a simpler way to get at needed styles.

By the way, the Default Startup Performance is a great way to set up your BK exactly as you tend to use it, split points, chord recognition types, Assign Switches, D-Beam settings, pedal assignments , and (specifically en point to this thread) Part Volumes and the like.

Now, turn on your BK and you’re ready to go! Swap ROM or user styles in and out and everything should sound great as long as you balance the User styles (if they need it) with the Makeup Tools…

Last tip… Part Mutes are externally addressable via MIDI or USB. If this is something you feel you’d really like constant access to without menu diving and scrolling, a cheap USB pad bank could be programmed to send the codes, maybe even light up to show you Part status.

I haven’t done this myself, I tend to set things up in advance (never really have liked running an arranger old school style!), but I’m pretty sure it’s doable. Check the Midi implementation. You definitely want Part Mute, not Part Volume because turning the volume to zero still has the voice using polyphony even though not sounding…

I appreciate your wisdom Diki! Since I had no intention of ever playing the tracks that I muted, I just went into Style Composer and deleted the content. Then I used Makeup Tools to tame the bass level so that I can run "100" level with all tracks on. Now when I select another style everything plays as I would expect.

I already knew about designating tracks for Track Mute. But I would have never thought to look in the DBeam as a way of muting parts! I don't really do very much with the DBeam. Perhaps it's the lighting in my dining room, but I've always found it hard to get a consistent response.

Re: muting parts via MIDI... in a general way, can you please describe how this is done? (I assume that you're referring to STYLE parts, and not Upper 1 & 2, Lower, etc.) Because the BK-9 has sliders, I probably wouldn't use external gear with it. But being able to toggle the tracks individually on the BK-5 and BK-7m might come in handy. Thanks again for your help!!

My main thing with the D-Beam is to mute all ACC Parts, drop down to just drums and bass. Very handy if playing piano!

Is there a bright light shining into the D-Beam? Is it possible to locate the lights away from the BK? I’ve also noticed some difficulty with the D-beam if another keyboard is above it, fairly close. It likes about 4” of clear space…

I believe the codes for Part Mutes are sys-ex, they should be in the MIDI Implementation .pdf on p.4.

Another thing I like to do is use the Track Mute button to mute ACC1, which is usually the piano Part (iirc). That way I can play straight piano for a tune’s head (and run the chord sequencer to record the chords), then start the chord sequencer and turn on ACC1 (to pick up the piano ACC) with the Part Mute sw. and I can switch to a lead sound (saxes, jazz guitar etc) to solo without the piano part being missing.

BTW, don’t forget to try playing full piano with the Dynamic Arranger turned on… Used subtly, it’s great for getting some life into the drums and guitar Parts if they change samples as you play harder!

BTW, the sliders won’t work as mutes for style parts. Just as volume. So the Part is still using polyphony.

If you have an iPad, there are several apps that allow you to design control surfaces with pad areas, sliders, buttons etc which would allow you to control many things buried in the edit menus, and send sys-ex (like those Style Part Mute codes).

The Roland BK9 Editor app is okay, but it only helps with the Keyboard Parts. To get at those style Parts, you’ll have to design your own layout on an app…

Unfortunately, yes, there is a high-hat in the corner of my dining room ceiling that shines right down into the D-Beam. Problem is, if I turn those lights off, then I can't see what I'm doing!

You give me too much credit, Diki. I'm a very "vanilla" arranger player, the type that gives the rest of you a bad name! RH single-note melody, LH chords (and often "cheat" chords played with one or two keys.) Nothing I do is likely to challenge the polyphony, so that's not a concern. I will look into the iPad apps though.

Unfortunately, my 7-year old iPad died last week. I left it charging, and it refused to turn on. Even the guy at the Apple store couldn't bring it back to life. I used it for all of my sheet music with a foot pedal to turn the pages. So It's been back to paper music for this week, until the new one arrives. I'm sure it just needs a new battery, but we live in a disposable society, so...

The EU is suing Apple over how unrepairable newer Apple products have become. Apple takes that market seriously, so perhaps the future will bring products a bit less disposable than they currently are…

Your new iPad will be quite a monster compared to that 7 year old one! Time to take a look at some of the synth and lead sound apps out there. My 6th gen. iPad (no spring chicken itself!) easily runs the SWAM stuff (amazing saxes and solo instruments) and a plethora of classic synth emulations, and is pretty easy to integrate into the Performance structure of the BK series.

It's relatively easy to change a battery in an iPad with the right tools, such as those here iFixit

Bill

Problem is, he hasn’t really got a diagnosis that it’s definitely ONLY the battery that has failed. Without that, I doubt I would personally spend the time and money on replacing it on the off chance that’s the only problem.

Thanks gents! I had it charging on a table and noticed walking by that the screen was illuminated (which was odd.) Later that day when I went to use it, it was completely dead. I read all of the tips, holding down buttons, etc.; no matter what I couldn't get it to turn on. Called Apple support, they had me plug it into a PC, no communication. Took it to the Apple store, they couldn't rescusitate it and pronounced it dead. My guess is that while charging the battery developed a "whisker"; basically a short-circuit.

I researched repair and battery replacement. Apparently it's very difficult to open the case and the battery was not designed to be removable, someone characterized the difficulty as 7 out of 10. One site suggested that a professional repair would cost more than $500, which is a lot to invest in a device that was already 7 years old. So I bought a new (gently used) one for $875. If it lasts me another 7 years, that's better than lugging around a lot of books and making mistakes while I fumble to turn pages. Plus I use the iPad for other hobbies, and it serves as backup to my laptop.

For what I do, I definitely didn't need the speed of the new M2 processor. It bothered me to put it in the trash, but like so many things today, they just aren't designed to be repaired or maintained long-term.

Wait until you start using polyphonic iPad instruments! You’re going to need all the power you can get!