Buying a used PA600

chelsea4023 · Post by **chelsea4023** » Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:09 pm

Hi,
It's eight years since the PA600 was launched and I'm considering purchasing a used model for one of my grandchildren to encourage them into playing.
My options are an EK50 (or for a little more money the PA600). I was hoping to get some feedback from PA600 owners if it is a good idea. I assume that the sounds (and styles) on a PA600 would be a higher quality (in general) than an EK50.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I would be paying £300 for the PA600 which is in excellent condition.
I have several hi-fi amps and numerous speakers so my intention is to set up an audio system to play the PA600 through, therefore maximising the sound quality. I know that downloading the latest software (2.1) and Dopamine's latest set would fill all the available slots with extra styles and sounds. I would also load Reuben's piano samples (which I believe are very nice sounding). For me it's a no-brainer over the EK50 but I would love to get some feedback from PA600 owners (past and present).
Many thanks in advance,
Chris

musiccankill · Post by **musiccankill** » Tue Feb 04, 2020 10:26 pm

Pa600 is way better than EK-50..
EK-50 is a reworked and cut down PA-50 (that's why it can only load sets from PA-50 and even that has some limitations)..
The pros of pa600 over ek50:
-Has sampling ram
-Has the pa3x sound engine (and can load sets from that engine of course).
-It is stable (ek-50 has hanging note issues etc as mentioned here)
-Has a touch screen
-It has way more functions than the ek-50 (style record, sound editing, 4 variations/fills and way more features)

I don't really see any pros fom the ek-50 over the pa600 except from the price tbh and the price you mentioned is a really good one in my opinion.

chelsea4023 · Post by **chelsea4023** » Wed Feb 05, 2020 2:01 am

Hi Musiccankill,
Thank you so much for replying. I guessed the PA600 was a better option but it's great to see what it's actually capable of.
I've read about Reuben's free pianos and have tried Dopamine's sets before on the PA4X. The fact they are compatible with PA600 is excellent.
Looks like it's the PA600. I think the poor grandkids will have to battle to get it off me !!

chelsea4023 · Post by **chelsea4023** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:07 pm

Hi musiccankill,
An update on the keyboard situation. I purchased the PA600 (for £300) not realising that it also came with a stand, a bench, a cover and a volume pedal included.
I updated it from O/S 1.2 to 2.1 and then loaded Dopamine 2.6 which (in my opinion) has transformed the PA600 from a good keyboard into a great keyboard.
It sounds good through the internal speakers, but I intend to put it through my PA4X sound system to get a better idea of it's capabilities.
Thank you for steering me away from the EK50, excellent advice.

What I would like to do now is add some of Reuben's pianos (memory permitting) as this seems to be one area where the PA600 is slightly weak.
If anybody has Dopamine 2.6 and Reuben's pianos loaded into their PA600 could they please let me know.
Chris

musiccankill · Post by **musiccankill** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:53 pm

chelsea4023 wrote:Hi musiccankill,
An update on the keyboard situation. I purchased the PA600 (for £300) not realising that it also came with a stand, a bench, a cover and a volume pedal included.
I updated it from O/S 1.2 to 2.1 and then loaded Dopamine 2.6 which (in my opinion) has transformed the PA600 from a good keyboard into a great keyboard.
It sounds good through the internal speakers, but I intend to put it through my PA4X sound system to get a better idea of it's capabilities.
Thank you for steering me away from the EK50, excellent advice.

What I would like to do now is add some of Reuben's pianos (memory permitting) as this seems to be one area where the PA600 is slightly weak.
If anybody has Dopamine 2.6 and Reuben's pianos loaded into their PA600 could they please let me know.
Chris

WOW! That was a steal!
The pianos i think are only sounds and there are free slots to load them after having loaded Dopamine so you can use both i believe!
I have never installed Dopamine as i don't need it so i m not 100% sure if it uses any ram space.

chelsea4023 · Post by **chelsea4023** » Mon Feb 17, 2020 1:28 am

Hi Musiccankill,
I spent some time this evening playing the PA600 and I found on user sound section 1 page 16 a complete page of piano sounds,
every single one is an improvement on the original piano sounds. I should have checked more thoroughly before posting.
Chris

musiccankill · Post by **musiccankill** » Mon Feb 17, 2020 3:53 pm

chelsea4023 wrote:Hi Musiccankill,
I spent some time this evening playing the PA600 and I found on user sound section 1 page 16 a complete page of piano sounds,
every single one is an improvement on the original piano sounds. I should have checked more thoroughly before posting.
Chris

No problem Chris !
Enjoy your new pa600!