Personally, I disagree, but then again, I am pretty used to Roland's, and also have a different style of playing. I would say, this comparison is extremely flawed. Just the volume alone is utterly different between the two arrangers, then the balance between RH and style is also not comparable.

Both are easily fixed... but that doesn't seem to have occurred to the poster. And playing Hammond sounds without a volume pedal? Who does that? Other than a tyro, of course!

And yes, the built-in compressors and EQ's of each keyboard are utterly different. Far better to turn them BOTH off. Compare apples to apples, or don't bother at all, IMHO. Remember, the PA900 has speakers, and the factory default EQ is probably set up to optimize that, the BK-9 has none, and the factory processing is probably set up for something else.

And, bottom line, I have never heard ANY arranger sound even remotely perfect (to me) OOTB. I actually EXPECT to do considerable work to tweak it to my tastes. I honestly think it is very optimistic to expect that from anything, but if you HAVE found something you think perfect OOTB, best to stick with it..! Or at the very least, factor in the work you are going to HAVE to do to set it up for yourself.

If there's one thing that may be a factor in all this, it may be that the BK-9 has no speakers. So whoever were creating the styles had no common reference for EQ and clarity of monitoring. I think that there were many different people involved in creating the styles, and it is possible that they all used different monitoring during creation. So yes, I agree that there is some work to do to balance certain styles. But, in fairness, this is something I have heard to a lesser degree on other arrangers, too (at least for my ears).

I usually turn off the Compressor and dial back the EQ of the Mastering section in any keyboard I attach to my system at home. In fairness, I have a superb pair of nearfield monitors, that are pretty flat already, so a lot of the curve applied to most arrangers' factory settings to compensate for poor built-in speakers or bad home sound systems isn't really needed.

But you never know what the guy who created the style was listening to, so I always expect some work to do. However, that is what I feel makes my sound, MY sound! The thought that everyone else who has a G70 or a BK-9 sounds identical to me gives me the willies!

Overall, Deane, I'd dial back the compressor on the BK-9, and back off the EQ a bit, if you have decent monitors... But then you have some work to do to rebalance the styles if the compression helped tame a few sounds. I'd be glad to help if you asked, over at R-A.com, Deane.