I went to the NAMM show last month for one day only and decided to pass on going to the Roland booth because I didn't think I would be too excited about the BK5 thinking that is was just like the BK7m but with keys and speakers. My rep came into the store this week and he convinced me to try one in the store and see how it does.......
It arrived today and I'm actually very impressed. I was told that just like the BK5m the only way it would display lyrics from standard midi files was by using an external monitor and I thought this was dumb with the larger display on the keyboard. Well, to my surprise Roland added this feature and now I have lyrics showing on the screen and as many of you like from Roland, the chords show up even if they weren't included in the midi file. I'm also quite pleased with the addition of the sound bank buttons and built in speakers. With the ability to plug a vocal mic using a mixer and being able to record an audio file mixed with a style or song and record right on a USB flash drive this is a good value keyboard for under $1,000.00.
I really like Roland Piano voices a lot and have changed my mind now that I've actually played it.