Product: Roland E-600
Price Paid: 550 (GBP) used
Submitted
01/14/2005
at
01:51pm
by
James
Email: cull<dot>james at gmail<dot>com
Ease of Use
:
10
The Roland E-600 has over 1000 sounds in various catagories and they all sound fantastic. Some of the saxophone and piano sounds sound indistingishable to the real thing, I was amazed. I am not sure if you can update the software version but you can upload your own sounds via the floppy disk drive. You can usually find sound banks avaliable on the Roland site or other sites, just search on Google. The manual is very readable, unlike most Roland manuals it is very useful and although the E-600 is a very easy instrument to operate I would recommend having the manual near you whilst you are using it.
Features
:
9
The E-600 has a 64-voice polyphony which sounds fantastic. The keys feel great as well and there are loads of on-board effects. One of my favourite is a voice harmonizer, which means you can plug in a microphone (using a standard jack plug) and turn your voice into loads of different sounds, which is really useful if you are doing karoke. The E-600 has a built in hard disk drive which means you can upload new sounds and the E-600 will play any song in MIDI format, which is especially useful. There are also three MIDI ports on the back (Out, In and Thru). The E-600 does not accept any new boards sadly. There is an excellent easy-to-use on-board sequencer which is capable of 16 tracks. All you do is press the track and then Record, nothing could be simpler.
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
10
The instruments are fantasic, some are indistinguishable from the real instrument. The Roland E-600 is aimed at any genre of music however it will suit rock/metal more because of the huge range of XG synth sounds. The on-board effects are amazing and the backing styles are excellent as well. The aftertouch and velocity on it are excellent. It reacts to my playing very well, will respond to different key touches very well.
Reliability
:
10
As with any Roland product, you can depend on it greatly. Runs off AC and there is no in-built battery to replace so yes, I can depend on it. I have used it at gigs and I have never taken a backup.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I have never dealt with Roland customer support so I can't give an opinion on this. I have never tried to get it upgraded or repaired, there's no need!
Overall Rating
:
10
If this was lost or stolen I would be mortified. For #550 second-hand, I thought this was excellent value and is definately worth every penny I paid. If it was stolen, I would probably consider purchasing a Roland XP-80 because I have searched on Ebay and the Roland E-600 very rarely comes up so I am guessing it is quite rare. I have been playing it for a year and I have loved it ever since I bought it. My other gear includes an Ensoniq ASR-10, a Korg M1 and an Akai S3200 sampler, all three of which have done me well. I have looked at the E-500 which is the slightly older version and I liked this one because it had an in-built floppy disk drive, which is very useful. I wish there were more resources for the E-600 like sound banks, you need to search the Net really hard to find any. It helps me make the music I play (metal) and it is a fantasic purchase. If you are considering purchasing a second-hand Roland, do take a good look at the E-600, it won't let you down!
If anyone else owns a Roland E-600 or knows of a website where I can download sound banks for/compatible with the E-600, then please contact me, thanks! I would love to hear from you.
