I recorded this song from ABBA, live (no MIDI editing) using a disco style with drums, bass and a rhythm guitar, the rest are right hand parts.

I had to use Bass Inversion excessively, since this song has a Bass on Note in almost every single measure.

In the future, I will probably create a MIDI backing track especially for the BASS, just so I won't freak out the arranger with the quick chord changes. For now here it is...

I didn't hear any glitching or excessive portamento in the bass part, so I would say that your chord change timing was spot-on! The .mp3 did seem to slow down or shift to a lower pitch in a couple of places, I'm not sure why, it could even be an artifact of my player.

If you choose to make a MIDI for the bass part, one challenge you'll face is that on the BK-9, you can't use MIDI and rhythm accompaniment simultaneously. You would have to play the MIDI part on an external sequencer, and sync its clock to the BK-9.

Unlike every other brand, Roland never gave us the option of having a non-transposing style track. The closest workaround that I can think of was shared by Fran Carango... He figured out that on the E-A7, you can copy your desired style patterns to its multipads. The pads always transpose to match played chords, and are available for use even when playing a MIDI file. For what it's worth. Thanks for sharing!!

Hi Dengizich,

This sounds fantastic!

I would like to hear more on your work in progress on this iconic ABBA song.

Thank you.

It shifts to a lower pitch in two places, I used the pitch bender on the words "high" and "gone" just to create a little "effect", but the bender is too sensitive, and it didn't turn out that great, I'll might leave that out in the future.


Lyrics where the pitch bender was used:

" Night is young and the music's -> high "

" Leave 'em burning and then you're -> gone "


I will re-create the drums and the bass as MIDI tracks and I won't use a style, but the other parts will be live...

Rather trying to get the bass line right using the arrangers inversions, why not get a midi pedalboard (Assuming the BK9 will accept one) and learn to play the pedals, that way you will not have to keep sorting out work-arounds for the arrangers limitations.
Midi backing is fine if it is not possible to play everything yourself, but for most songs it is just too rigid and inhuman sounding.

Bill

I created MIDI tracks for the drums, bass and rhythm guitar and I also included a piano track, I'm sure Mr. Benny Andersson would appreciate it.

All the other parts are live.

The BK-9 will accept a MIDI pedal, but I try to keep my setup as simple as possible.


Here is the recording with the MIDI tracks...

By the way, here is an interesting interview with the two guys from ABBA, Björn Ulvaeus guitarist and Benny Andersson keyboardist.


https://youtu.be/PXXD4MeowIs?feature=shared

You don’t need an external DAW on the BK9. Set the Recorder to record MIDI, not audio, play and record the accompaniment. Save as an SMF. Open it in the 16 track Sequencer, then edit, add extra Parts, whatever. Save as an SMF, then do fine tuning in the Makeup Tools.

You can get a bit tighter accompaniment by initially recording the first full style capture with the tempo slowed down enough for you (and the arranger engine!) to not struggle being precise with your timing. Then bring back to full speed for the overdubs.

This can also simplify getting the chords and inversions correct. Just play the chords in your RH, and the correct bass inversion note with your LH (like you would playing a simple full piano part) and do not activate any keyboard sounds at all. The arranger will still recognize the chords if set to Full Keyboard.

You certainly get easier editing using a DAW, but you can still do full recording using the BK9, even to the point of recording the audio after all is finished…

And if you don’t mind a little musical suggestion about the arrangement, I might suggest using the OTS to set up rather more contrasting sounds for verse, chorus, bridge etc..

Using the same basic sounds all the way through the song (I know it’s two sounds, but they’re fairly similar) doesn’t really let the arrangement build. The OTS makes it easy to have four totally different sounds ready to go with minimal button pushing!

Great song, by the way! ABBA have always been a guilty pleasure for me! 🇸🇪🤩❤️

roger that