Roland BK9 Backing Keyboard

Built for live performance, and easy to carry

The BK-9 weighs less than 21 pounds (9.4 kg) so it’s easy to carry wherever you want to play – a real plus as professional-quality 76-note keyboards are usually heavy and difficult to transport.

Some performance keyboards are weighed down by hundreds of unnecessary functions, making them confusing, cluttered and complicated. The BK-9 is designed around simplicity, and is very easy to use when performing, with two screens showing just the essentials, a logical front panel layout, and many dedicated and user-assignable controls.

When playing live, there’s nothing worse than reaching the end of the song and realising you can’t find the sounds for the next song. The BK-9 lets you quickly recall your ten favourite tones for each real-time part, so you can concentrate on playing rather than worrying about finding your trusted, favourite sounds. You also get 1000 onboard Music Assistants which provide instant setups for every musical style, and you can save an unlimited number of custom setups to USB memory giving peace of mind and protection from data loss.

Versatile sounds for every occasion – and lots of them

A performance keyboard needs to deliver across a wide variety of musical situations, especially when demanding audiences are involved. And because you never know what songs the audience will request, it’s reassuring to know that the BK-9 is crammed with over 1,700 sounds covering just about any musical genre. You’ve got quality as well as quantity too, since Roland’s SuperNATURAL technology powers 22 of the sounds, for incredibly natural expression.

You also get 500 all-new tones from Roland’s acclaimed sound library, selected especially for the BK-9. When the gig kicks up a gear, the Virtual Tone Wheel sound engine puts legendary organ tones at your fingers, with front-panel harmonic bars and a rotary effect for authentic organ performance. The BK-9 is also equipped for future expansion, with a User Tone area dedicated for upcoming BK-series sound collections.

Remastered rhythms

The rhythm section is the backbone of any performance, and the BK-9 is brimming with full-ensemble accompaniments in almost every musical style imaginable. This means you get to lead the world’s most versatile backing band as you play, but without the tantrums or egos. The 540 built-in rhythms have all been remastered with the BK-9’s superior sounds and powerful new effects processing for impressive audio quality straight from the recording studio. You can also add unlimited additional rhythms via USB, and you can play along with MP3, WAV, and SMF files as well, so you don’t need to plug in a separate audio player.

Adapt your sound to the venue, with powerful effects and onboard mixing

If you play gigs at different venues, you never know what you’ll find upon arrival. Some venues sound fine, but others leave a lot to be desired acoustically. The BK-9 includes two mastering processors so you can adapt the sound of the rhythm and real-time sections to suit the acoustics of the venue. They’re also great when used with the global reverb and chorus for adding that final polish, ready for recording.

In total, there are five independent multi-effects engines (MFX) offering an enormous range of sound processing possibilities, with three MFX dedicated to rhythms and two MFX dedicated to real-time parts. You can instantly adjust the levels of the rhythm and real-time parts, MFX parameters, and more simply by using the harmonic bars on the front panel.

Powerful tools for creativity

A built-in 16-track sequencer provides a professional platform for composing and editing SMF data, while the Rhythm Composer lets you create and customise your own rhythms with ease. The convenient Chord Loop feature instantly captures rhythm backings as WAV audio loops, and also makes it simple to build chord sequences from rhythms to use for composing in the sequencer.

If you’re playing along with audio files stored on USB key, up to seven files can be assigned to the top seven keyboard keys for quick-access playback while performing – meaning that the next song in your set list is cued up and ready to go. You can record your performance for posterity directly to USB memory and since the BK-9 records in high-quality WAV format, you can then copy the files to a computer and burn your performance straight to CD.

Extra ability to entertain

If you sing or work with a vocalist, you’ll appreciate the BK-9’s convenient XLR microphone input, which features phantom power, a dedicated reverb effect, and easily accessible front-panel controls. You’ll be able to set up faster and start the sound check without having to worry about extra leads and effects processors.

If your repertoire includes Karaoke, a composite Video Out jack is also provided, which displays embedded MP3/SMF lyrics and chord symbols on an external video monitor. For more casual performances at home, you can display photo slideshows, so your audience can enjoy watching images while listening to your music.

Roland Wireless Connect and Free iOS Apps

The BK-9 works with Roland Wireless Connect, which provides cable-free communication with Apple’s iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch via Roland’s optional WNA1100-RL Wireless USB Adapter. An iPad can also be connected directly to the BK-9 with a USB cable using Apple’s iPad Camera Connection Kit. Many free iOS apps are available to enhance your BK-9 experience, including Air Recorder for jamming and capturing performances (iPhone/iPad), BK Partner for selecting tones and rhythms (iPad), Lyrics Viewer for displaying SMF lyrics (iPad), and a number of others.

Hear, Try and Compare the Roland BK9 Backing Keyboard in our showroom

Located in Leicester in the central Midlands and close to Coventry, Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham and Warwick we promise you that a visit to our specialist Digital Piano and Keyboard showroom will not disappoint. Try the full Roland range including the BK9 Backing Keyboard and compare it with Yamaha, Casio and Korg all under one roof. Whatever your playing standard our knowledgeable and friendly experts will help guide you through the Keyboard buying process and make sure that you are buying the right instrument for your needs. As ex teachers we are ideally placed to advise and answer any questions you may have. Lifetime support and product tuition with ALL digital pianos.

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