Yes they are. I was listening yesterday to some recordings of myself that I made using it and it blew me away. Even makes ME sound good.
I had that Edirol controller totally programmed to use with the BK7m too.
I tried BK9 for 3 weeks and it was even better, but many of the same problems as far as peripheral gear needed. PLUS, Roland still does not have an effective Break/fill, which I use a lot.
I'm looking forward to getting the new Ketron, and I love the PA900, but wouldn't mind having a BK9 just for kicks. Not gonna happen here but I think one could set up the BK9 with an Ipad and have a killer rig.
I'm just at the point where I demand that everything be in one package. I'm basically playing every Friday and Saturday, and don't leave my gear set up all the time like I used to do, so quicker and simpler is the goal.
I think with the SD7 I'll just have the keyboard, stand, two mics and two Bose Compacts--no mixer, laptop, etc., needed. I seem to often need a guest mic and hate to run it directly to the Bose with no effects, so the second input on SD7 should solve that problem. We'll see!

Side note: I had a guy wanting to sing a song for his girlfriend last week, and so I said sure, let me plug in a mic for you. He said, "oh I can just use yours". He had a runny nose and was coughing every other breath. I said "no, it will only take a few seconds and I wouldn't want to give you my cold!"
Most people don't understand but using my mic is too much like kissing me on the mouth!