Roland BK9 Hammond Jazz & Blues..Great Hammond

I auditioned a BK9 for a couple of weeks, and it had probably the best B3 of any arranger I've seen.
Sent it back because of the things it DIDN'T have, like text display and vocal harmony.
They are hard to find now. A guy I know from the internet has one on EBay but he wants as much as a new one cost.

Don dont you use a laptop for lyrics when needed?

I have an extremely large collections of lyrics/chords on the laptop, but most of them are also in the keyboard. One touch of the screen in Songbook and everything is instantly loaded, included lyrics. Most of the songs I do nearly every night are from memory of course, but I do love the ability to have everything independent of the laptop.

Nothing beats a laptop on stage imo

Really enjoyed the video. Great sound and excellent view of what you're doing on the keys.

Duane O'D

Nice demos. I've been spending some time this week setting up organ presets,for a band project I may be. Involved in . Sometimes tricky saving certain parameters,but it does sound good --- in stereo !
I do wish it had a bit more than reverb and EQ in the mic settings and I would really like to link my IPad Unrealbook to the performances but I can't get it right. Still happy with it for all the other things it can do so well.

The first song is usually called Things Ain't What They Used To Be, and also Time's A Wastin' A nice, catchy Ellington song.

For ballroom dances I often used to open with this as my theme song using a big band sound.

Second video is a classic and I have been lucky enough to spend some time with the late Jimmy Smith over the years. 16', 5 1/3' and 8' is the easiest drawbar combination to nail and Roland did an ok'ish job keeping in mind the Hammond sound is just one of many sounds. The old VK series were not bad with the bottom three or four drawbars either....just keep away from anything above.

I have to say though....The sound of the first video is just awfull! the overdrive fizzes over the top of the track making me want to clear my throat....and the awful stereo shift from left to right of the Leslie sim is chronic and you cant listen to it through headphones without getting nauseous.

I am overly critical of the Hammond sound though having spent much of my life in and around them.

Sound aside...nice playing from the Roland demo guy whoever he is.

First time I've really listened to the organ (well Hammond) sound on this keyboard. Sounds really good for an arranger keyboard, would sound even better with an expression pedal for better dynamics. I have a BK7m which I use as a (great) drum machine easily controlled with my FC-7 velcroed to the top of my PK7-A. Because I use it in conjunction with my KeyB Organ, I've never actually listened to the organ voices in the BK7m. Are they the same (as BK9)? Of course, even if they were, it would be hard to control the organ patches without a dedicated and fairly complex controller. Anyhoo, probably as good an organ as you're gonna get out of an arranger although I haven't heard any Genos B3 patches demoed in a jazz organ style and using drawbar 'tricks' and Leslie sim on/off effects, etc. I'm sure there are some out there, just as I'm sure Donny will find them .

chas

The BK9 organ is better than the BK7. I've mentioned before that it is the best I've ever heard in an arranger. Diki kept saying that, but I had to hear it for myself when I had one for a couple of weeks.
There's something about those BK7 drums that is really solid though. I wasn't able to duplicate that in the later models. But I didn't try real hard either.

No, I don't think the BK-7m organs are the same. BK-9 had several hundreds more sounds than BK-7m, and they put an emphasis on organs, in connection with the drawbars.

Edited: Sorry, I didn't see someone already answered...

Here's a song I did a few years back on the BK7 with Edirol controllers. Vocals T.C. Helicon Harmony M.
The Letter
https://app.box.com/s/vlxhu5ww1xkl01m33936ug62gss77veg

Don great sound as usual thanx for sharing sure wish more people would also here..

I'm an old B3 player too. BK9 is way too bright on the top end. First thing is you have to roll off the top end with the EQ. Might try to augment the mids and bass EQ too.The BK7m is using presets which may or may not come from the BK9s VK8 engine. Of course on the BK9 also has drawbars and a lot of other parameters to adjust with the Leslie Sim and organ .In stereo its pretty good and enough for live performance.