I listen to the 500 again, and I think the sound engine is the same,

I think it was mislead from the tech, but i could be wrong, it sounds identical to the PA800.

I haven't recorded both to see exactly,

The key feel is not on par with the 800, it had that cheaper key feel,

all other functions are in there, I would say if you gigged with a PA 800, and went back the next day with a 500, i don;t think a sould would hear any difference other than the vocalizer missing


BTW the 500 is very light, you would probably need weights so it doesn't blow away



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maybe it's just as roland's E series.
E60/50 have the same sounds as E80, but the quality is not quite on par with it... the quality of sounds can be quite a tricky issue.

but pa500 is supposed to have the same rx-technology as pa2x and pa800.
does it mean the same sounds? or just the same way of producing sounds?

that's worth getting a straight answer from korg.

Adi, how could you?! The E60/50 have SOME of the E80 sounds, but of COURSE not the same...!

The E80 has a lot of sounds and drumkits the E50/60 doesn't have at all, and then MUCH less ROM for the sounds, so those samples that ARE in common are FAR more compressed, shortened, looped earlier and played back through MUCH less high quality D/A converters and associated electronics.

This has ALWAYS been Roland's (and just about everyone else's, too) way of making the instrument affordable, and not scavenge sales from the TOTL at the same time. Just listen to a G600 next to a G1000... Supposedly the same sounds, night and day in comparison.

The PA-80 & 60 had the same sound engines and the same sounds and styles except for organ drawbars, aftertouch, the additional connections in the back, flash card and hard drive kit. the rest was the same. So the pa-800 and 500 is most likely the same minus the extras.

Pa800 has 120 voice polyphony, Pa500 has only 80 voice polyphony.

Pa800 has 240 MB of sound data, Pa500 has only 128 MB of sound data.

Kind regards,
Tommy

[This message has been edited by TommyF (edited 01-29-2008).]

Ok, some more info,

it seems the PA 500 is also missing the FAV locations, and is missing some style also.

Hmmmm, If thats the case it seems that maybe the pa60 was a better deal compared to the pa500, as far as little brother vs. big brother.......

After reading some of the posts here today I called the Product Manager at Korg USA to find out for certain what the sound engine is. Malcolm told me that his tech was mistaken. He was probably comparing the PA500 with a PA50 engine which is based on the Triton Sound Engine and not the RX sound Engine from the PA1X keyboard line. Except for the modeling draw bar organs in the PA800/PA1X/PA2X keyboards, all the sounds and styles are the same as the PA800.


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George Kaye
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818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

I knew they sounded really close, I guess I should always go with my first impression.

I do know there are styles missing and some sounds. The pa2xpro and pa 800 are the same but the 500 is missing a couple of things

oki, i admit it!
i exagerated just to make my point!
diki, you're right - i only wanted to point out that cheaper instruments from the same series, E or PA for that matter, MUST have something missing...... maybe some features, maybe some sounds/styles, maybe both.

if pa500 proves to be the same as pa800, sound wise, i think i could live without having the complete set of functions..... hopefully the situation is the same like it was with pa50, having the same sounds as pa80, minus some features.

i think i could play pa500 happily.......