80’s Synth Riffs - Roland BK9 arranger keyboard (Medley)

80’s Synth Riffs - arranger styles, created at home on my Roland BK9
0:08 The Final Countdown
1:24 Knight Rider
2:05 Axel F
3:07 Rockit
3:50 Ghostbusters
4:47 Jump
MORE INFO:
Played live in real-time on the Roland BK9
Recorded straight from the keyboard
No multi-tracking, sequencing, or mastering
The left-hand accompaniment parts for the tunes in this medley were too varied and complex to fit in to the BK9’s maximum 4 variations per Style, so right from the outset, I had to approach putting this medley together by creating a separate Style for each song. I used the same drums (Power Kit) on every Style though to maintain conformity throughout the medley. I then utilised the BK9’s Performance List function to create a Performance memory for each Style and saved them consecutively in a Performance List so I could “step” through the individual tunes by simply hitting +1 on the up/down button underneath the jog wheel. The only downside was the small glitch/timing errors that the BK9 tends to throw up when changing a Performance while still playing the previous Performance. To be fair, I was asking the BK9 to load in an absolute ton of data while still playing it at the same time so its internal processor was under a quite bit of pressure I suppose.
I used the Performance “hold” function to force the BK9 to change UP1 & UP2 whenever I changed Performances. This meant that a one button press changed the Style AND the right-hand sounds both at the same time. This worked really well and the only time I had to use an OTS (OneTouchSetting) was for Axel F because it uses two different right-hand sounds, one for the main riff and one for the rhythmic part in the middle. [*Edit - Apologies for the less than authentic Axel F main right-hand sound! Since uploading this video I’ve managed to create a much more authentic sound for the main Axel F riff by adding a square wave layer , a light phaser FX, and some eq tweaks to give it more of that 12-bit clean metallic kinda quality of the original]
The Styles for Final Countdown, Knight Rider, Rockit, and Jump were pretty straightforward to create. However I struggled to get the patterns for Axel F and Ghostbusters to sound right when I changed chords with my left hand. So after spending far too much time trying to force the bass notes to fall in to the right places (and failing miserably at it), I admitted defeat and decided to create 4 bar sections for Axel F and Ghostbusters and incorporate their chord changes in to the accompianments' 4 bar patterns. Not ideal and a bit of a workaround, but ultimately it sounds much better doing it that way.
As usual, all the right-hand sounds for the riffs took quite a bit of tweaking to sound the way I wanted them because the Roland BK9 isn’t a proper synthesizer, but I think I managed to get them quite close. Most sounds were pretty straightforward to create as the BK9 had no shortage of good stock preset sounds that suited. The only right-hand sound that I would say gave me a little bit more work than the others was “Rockit” [*Edit - and Axel F], but I eventually found a good oscillator sync type sound for “Rockit” and when I added some small room reverb to it, it ended up sounding not too bad.
Enjoy!

[@RudyGoossens]

just fantastic !! many greetings from Belgium !!

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you Rudy!

[@desernauta]

Very very great!

[@KennyCampbell]

thank you!

[@josippejic1920]

Big like from SERBIA !!!

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you Josip!

[@josippejic1920]

My pleasure !!! love my Roland BK ) !!!!@@KennyCampbell

[@tom221263]

Big like from germany 👌

[@KennyCampbell]

danke schön!

[@thesweekendshow8477]

Very well done! Great music

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you!

[@JohnBillington]

Nice work arranging these

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you John, yes, it took quite a bit of work to get the balances right between the individual styles used to make the medley sound as "seamless" as possible.

[@tornstrings8599]

I even shed a tear ... The first American films! The music of childhood! Thanks!

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you!

[@Saimonfun]

Hi @KennyCampbell, it sounds really amazing... How could I get this patches?... I just bought a BK9 and would like to upload them... Any page to purchase?... Thanks in advance!!

[@MrTamiya89]

AWESOME Video Dude. 😃👍.

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you!

[@evanderholyfield4575]

Fantastic 😊👍best demo ever and for Roland. Now i want buy this machine.

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you Erkan! Unfortunately Roland do not produce the BK9 any more.

[@michalwarmbier4113]

I have one for sale 😁

Great hits Splendid! ⚛️

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you!

[@jomarcavalcanti]

Super nicely played sir and great programming of the back track

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you Jo. It’s not actually a backing track, it’s individual arranger styles for each section which I’m stepping through one at a time. I’ve used the same drums and balanced the individual instruments within each style to give it the feeling that it’s flowing as one continuous song though.

[@eduardolucarelli3251]

You're a monster brilliant

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you!

[@omarvicentesitiooficial8313]

EXCELENTE PERFORMANCE....MUY BUENO

[@KennyCampbell]

Gracias Omar!

[@MrWilydw]

Very good

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you!

[@rajahandy9182]

Nice sounds

[@KennyCampbell]

Thanks Andy, not too bad considering the BK9 isn’t a synthesiser

[@sinding7670]

Mantap cover ini👏👏👏

[@KennyCampbell]

Terima kasih!

[@Lerm-Crmpht]

I’m not sure if I’m listening to the creator, or your awesome version , can’t tell the difference

[@KennyCampbell]

Thankyou Liam! The Roland BK9 isn’t a proper synthesizer but it does have around 1,700 sounds which can be tweaked a little bit and can be layered on top of each other to make more complex sounds. With a little bit of hard work I was able to get most of the sounds pretty close to the originals. Synth purists would argue that they are not identical to the original sounds, but that’s not really what I’m trying to achieve here - I’m really trying to push the boundaries of an arranger keyboard (which is not a real synthesizer) to see how close I can get to the original sounds while still keeping the music/songs in the medley flowing together in a seamless way so they don’t sound too disjointed.

[@dupajasiu920]

excellent

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you!

[@c0rjnth14ns9]

VERY GOOD!

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you CJ!

[@niltoncesardacruzmoraes4988]

Toooooop demais 👏💯 show de

[@KennyCampbell]

Obrigada!

[@mrkorgy]

Excellent Work! Can I load it into E-A7?

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you for your kind comment. The medley consists of a series of separate custom styles I created myself specially for the BK9 and are not factory styles so you won’t find them in an EA7 (or any of the BK keyboards). Roland, like most other manufacturers, claim that styles can be used over multiple keyboards in their brand but in reality styles rarely transport well from one keyboard to another. As well as a BK9, I also have a BK5 and a BK7m and although the styles are supposedly interchangeable they still need some major tweaking before they sound right in each machine (well, to my ears anyway)!

[@mrkorgy]

Your Final countdown brass is 100% close to the original tone. I really appreciate your efforts. Thanks for your kind reply.

[@KennyCampbell]

You should be able to easily replicate the Final Countdown sound on a Roland EA7 as it contains most of the same sounds as the BK9. I used a layer of UPPER1 and UPPER2. UPPER1 is “OB Brass” with no MFX, just some reverb. I reduced the attack and release a little so it would hit harder and sound more staccato like. UPPER2 is “80s Brass 2” with a fair bit of St Delay MFX.

[@mrkorgy]

I am really thankful for your expert opinion.

[@mrkorgy]

OB Brass is available in ea7 but I searched 80s brass 2 and couldn't find it.

[@framax67]

Excellent ! 👏👏

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you!

[@lfelipepaz]

Very gooodd!!!

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you!

[@josippejic1920]

@@KennyCampbell Nice sounds !!!! Ihave BK 9 PLs can you tell me which sounds of synt you use !!!! Thank you so much dear Kenny !!! Greeting from Serbia !!!

[@KennyCampbell]

Hi Josip, this gives me an idea to perhaps make a video of how to make the right hand sounds on the BK9. Thank you!

[@raffou62]

Perfect

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you!

[@jjhcw]

nice!!!

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you Jefferson!

[@lenrok9231]

Bardzo fajnie.

[@KennyCampbell]

Dziękuję Ci!

[@lstvphoto]

Awesome! Love those 80's riffs. Where do you get your backing tracks?

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you Steve. It's not actually a backing track, it's individual arranger styles for each section which I'm stepping through one at a time. I've used the same drums and balanced the individual instruments within each style to give it the feeling that it's flowing as one continuous song.

[@robinsss]

@@KennyCampbell the fourth to the last chord on Jump was wrong

[@KennyCampbell]

@@robinsss No it's not, it's correct, these are my arrangements of these songs so every note and every chord is played exactly as I arranged, played and intended them to be.

[@robinsss]

@@KennyCampbell so you did not try to play Jump the way it was recorded by Van Halen?

[@KennyCampbell]

No, this is my own personal arrangement of this song which I created specially to fit in with the other songs in my medley, it’s not the Van Halen version (just to give you but one example, I also put a two semitone key change towards the end to give the end of my medley dramatic effect, you won’t find this key change in any Van Halen arrangement of this song).

[@nightshadowrolandbk-9cezar154]

Super

[@KennyCampbell]

Thankyou!

[@Wucker1]

Every clip starts with final countdown.as if there was only europe back in the days😣

[@KennyCampbell]

I know what you mean! I think it's mainly because "Final Countdown" is such an iconic 80's song, then add to that the fact that it was originally written to be the opener for Europe's live stage show, it's probably understandable why so many 80's medleys begin with this song...

[@paulomiranda9141]

O som da base nao casa com o solo

[@KennyCampbell]

Thank you for your comment

[@michaelmoore1697]

Too bad Roland Keyboards are crap these days

[@KennyCampbell]

With worldwide sales of over $500 million this year alone, I'm guessing Roland won't be too bothered that you don't like their keyboards lol

[@michaelmoore1697]

@@KennyCampbell yes, I can assure you from experience that you are correct in your assessment that they do not give a crap about their customers.

[@KennyCampbell]

Agreed Michael, in fact the keyboard I'm using in this video was sold with promises from Roland that there would be future updates such as user programmable sounds/tones but they never materialised. Build quality on this so-called 'flagship' arranger is quite poor too, a few buttons on this one started to go wobbly after just 6 months! Lesson learned - I will only buy a Roland keyboard nowadays based on what it is now rather than what they say it will become in the future. Sadly internet forums are full of unhappy Roland customers and it's hard not to be surprised.

[@chloedevereaux1801]

well that was fucking horrible!!!!!

[@KennyCampbell]

Yes, I know you are!!!!!