Gary... you REALLY need to go play a BK-9. For starters, just as you seem to think that anyone that hasn't yet played a T5 has no right to say a damn thing against it (or make any kind of comparison), then the rest of us has probably the same right to say you cannot make a comparison or state any opinion until you have, yourself. Or is it one set of rules for you, another for us?

Personally, I have played both the S950 and the BK-9 (side by side, through the same speakers), so I feel I am in the PERFECT position to talk about it. Have you?

If your memories of that 8 year old Roland drum machine are so good, can you even IMAGINE how much better they have got in nearly a decade since? For starters, that old Roland drum machine probably had only a few drum sounds with more than one sample per sound. You MIGHT have got two on a few sounds (kick and snare, most likely) but that was about it. On only one or two kits.

Nowadays, in my BK-9, a large number of sounds have at LEAST two, many with four or more, including the entire basic kit on many kits. Drums do more than get louder as you hit them harder. They change sound. And, more than volume, this is what cues the ear into hearing dynamics. This is where the Yamaha's fall short. Not enough samples per drum sound, and programming that leaves you feeling that nothing much is going on in the drummer's position.

While you can continue to stick stubbornly to your guns, the shootout we had here some months ago clearly demonstrate you are holding a very minority position.

The truth about using the audience's approval of your act as a justification for your equipment is a bad one, Gary. We both know perfectly well that, you could play to them on your old gear, and they would love you just as much! As has been said so many times... it's the entertainer, not the gear that does the job! Using their enjoyment as some kind of evidence misses the point completely. Did they HATE you back then? Of course not.

So, at some point or another, you HAVE to admit that it simply isn't a factor in determining whether one arranger is good or bad. Put a great player and entertainer on ANY arranger, even a decades old one, that audience goes home happy. So where is that justification now? The truth is, musicians are the ONLY ones capable of detecting what is more 'realistic' when it comes to instrument sounds.

And by a considerable majority, the Yamaha drum sound came out at the bottom in our shootout.

In fact, when you think about it, what is Yamaha's inclusion of a few audio drum styles (and them touting it as SO realistic!) but an admission that what they have already as being so poor? You don't see Roland or Korg going down that road, not really NEEDING it. I guess they agree with this forum... Their drums are ALREADY very realistic.

I'm afraid I don't agree with Ian. I can put up a bunch of Roland BK-9 drum tracks that he would have a VERY hard time telling the difference between them and an Audya. Comparing them to the Yamaha audio drums is a bit harder, as they have them drenched in enough room sound to make integrating it into the overall ambiance of the style a bit awkward. It certainly makes the drums sound 'live', but it makes the rest of the style sound fake.

Fran, you REALLY need to get to see a BK-9. Those SRX kits are now in the basic ROM, along with many, many new kits. Heck, you even now have User Kits, so any sound from any kit can be combined with any other sound. So you can take the pick of the litter from each kit and create your own custom kit. Five of them, actually. No, you don't have an identical kit to the basic V-Drums kits from the G70. But that is only because they have been massively improved. Put in a G70 style, it automatically remaps to the BK-9 new kit, and the sound comes even MORE alive.

So far, I haven't had to do any major drum editing to styles and SMF's that used the G70 kits moving to the BK-9. They just sound better.