Fran, most of the roadblocks to easy BK-9 use disappear with the iPad apps.

Have you looked at this? http://www.roland.com/apps/bk9performanceeditor/

This is close to the G70's touch screen functionality (in fact, quite a bit onwards, in certain areas) on something MUCH larger and easier to see than the G70 touch screen.

Yes, I think they made a mistake moving to the dual LCD screen, but given that this line was designed from the BOTL upwards, rather than the TOTL downwards, not that surprising. However, with the iPad apps, much of the original ease of use seems to have been addressed.

And live, unless you are one of those 'Free Panel' relics from the 80's, there is MORE than enough control for playing live simply from all the sliders (10 of them), buttons, Assignable buttons (4 of them), footswitch, expression controller inputs, D-Beam and the FC-7 to be able to run the thing quite easily even without an iPad on the gig (or allow you to use your iPad for PDF display or other uses).

There are live slider controls for two MFX parameters and two CC's for voice manipulation per Performance (something you couldn't do on the G70), a big improvement.

I think that the G70's touch screen OS was about the best anyone has yet to come up with, but, in fairness, for $1500 LESS (and 25lbs less!) it is not reasonable to expect parity with the G70. Thank goodness you can address it with the iPad, though.

Look, for solo and duo use (I think full live band, I am still happy with the G70, but more familiarity with the iPad apps may change that) I think the BK-9 is a huge step forward. The Chord Sequencer alone puts it into another category if you are familiar with how much that can allow you to do that you can't while stuck having to play the changes, the audio loop capability starts to put it into full WS ability and sound, and the Hammond is to die for!

I am surprised at your resistance to jumping in. Admittedly, I didn't go through having a BK-5 or -3 first (although I do have a -7m), but I did try them when a friend bought them (and subsequently sold them to get the -9), and I can assure you, from key feel to overall sound, the -9 is MUCH better.

Time to get off the fence, Fran, and give it a good try...