Abacus and Beakybird, thank you for the heads-up; the PX-5S is definitely in my radar, especially if the street price will be really below 1000 euros.

Well, bottom line is, a non-touch screen keyboard can get the job DONE... but so slowly, it is hard to get to much on stage in a hurry.

And that's the main thing for me.

I cannot understand why Roland went backwards (even though I should be used to it by now!) and went to non-touch screens. I can get to the most arcane settings in no more than one or two screen button pushes on my G70. The BK-7m (and by extension, all of the BK's) you need to go through a ton of scrolling, button pushing, more scrolling, more buttons ad infinitum to get to things that are day to day stuff!

I guess it only took Roland 12 or so years to realize dropping the CS was a bad idea... maybe they can rectify this a bit faster? LOL

A touch screen implementation on any BK gear wouldn't be efficient unless the display screen size was increased 4 to 5x bigger then it is now first off. Or having an "optional" iPad connected be able to do touch screen duties....anyway as it stands now on the BK series it is what it is,....that ain't gonna change. YOU just have to be happy with the way it is or wait for the next wave of Roland series arranger KB's down the road.
Personally I can work with either method efficiently on stage.
For me I'd rather have "MORE BUTTONS & KNOBS" for All menu solutions.

One limitation of the PX-350 as far as being a stage piano is that there are only 96 registrations you can have. 24 banks with four buttons. You cannot create a name for the registration.

On my Yamaha PSR-S950, I can name a registration after a song and then look for the song name. With the Casio, you would have to remember that the electric piano setup for a certain song was stored in bank #17 button C.

I mean if you're mostly a pianist who uses a few other voices without transpositions, the Casio PX-350 is great. And I cannot say enough about how much I like the key feel and the concert grand piano voice.

I would hope that the PX-5S has more options as far as storing registrations.

I like it - best Casio demo I've ever seen.

There are 100 registrations( Stage Settings), all of which can be names. They all also contain all tone edits, custom effects, arpeggios and phrases.

Mike,

any news on the availability of the PAX-5S?

Donny... buttons cost money and add considerably to an arranger's cost. The touch screen replaces hundreds of buttons, and pays for itself many times over.

If you look at how small the G/E series' touch screen was, there is MORE than enough room for it on the BK9's front panel. A mere 4.5"X3.5"...

And unfortunately, the iPad apps for Roland do almost nothing other than what you can do from the front panel. There's almost NOTHING they do that is buried in sub-menus. Yes, if they functioned as a full featured touch-screen for the BK's, I'd buy one in a flash. But they don't. They are little more than a gimmick for the iPad-addled kids. Don't be fooled.

Here is a link to the discussion about the PX-5S in the Keyboard Magazine Forum.

Here is a link for the Keyboard Magazine review of the Casio PX-350: http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/casio-privia-px-350/150865.