I'm not familiar with that unit, but I've messed with some auto-accompaniment keyboards before. There are pros and cons to both the keyboard approach and the BiaB approach of doing things. So everything I am writing about arranger keyboards I suspect are also about the BK-7 - but I'm not sure - if you are interested in the BK-7, further investigation is recommended.

The keyboards (and I suspect the BK-7) have great intros and endings, better than what you have in BiaB. But how many times can you use a great intro? I remember working out a cha-cha for ballroom dancers, "Cherry Pink..." and used this great intro from an old Roland auto-accompaniment keyboard. It was great. Then I decided to learn a cha-cha version of "The More I See You" so I used that same, great intro. But when the new song started, it sounded so much like "Cherry Pink" that I wanted to start the wrong song. So there are advantages and disadvantages to elaborate intros and endings.

The arranger keyboards often have more instruments than BiaB. This can make for much thicker background parts.

Also the keyboards work in real time. BiaB wants the chords entered before you hit the play button.

Real time allows the keyboard player to be more spontaneous in their arrangement, but the BiaB method has one great advantage that IMHO can allow the song played to be much more musical. And for me that's what it's all about.

First of all, the arranger keyboards usually have from 2 to 8 bars that they play over and over and over again with variations according to the chord you are playing. BiaB can have hundreds of different patterns and they do not come in the same order over and over again unless the style is programmed that way.

Second and most importantly to me, since you enter the chords ahead of time, BiaB knows which chord is coming next. So a smart style programmer can design patterns that only occur in certain musical contexts. A couple of examples would be the V chord in a typical ii-V7-I progression. Or a IV chord that resolves to the root when the IV is on an odd numbered measure and the root is an even numbered measure. There are dozens of "masks" in the StyleMaker that can allow the style writer to make musical patterns that only occur in the situations that are appropriate.

Third, BiaB can have multiple patterns for the same situation with different probability weights. So for example, if the style writer would create 5 different patterns for a V7 chord that resolves to the root when the root has a part marker on it (measure 1 of the next 8 or so), the writer can put the pattern with the most 'personality' with a low probability number that will surprise the listener every once in a great while and not over do itself.

For me, I like the BiaB approach better, because if the style is written well, the musical output can be more varied and more musical.

If I were a single act doing a "piano bar" type of gig, I might prefer the keyboard approach as it would allow the arrangements to be more flexible.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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