This has been kicked around. Some find little difference. But coming from someone who played 500+ jobs per year and programmed and lived and breathed the 800, I can say they are 2 different animals, in every way. Will never work, I tried it. I loaded song sets and sticks and whatever and it NEVER matched. It was frustrating and very disappointing. I hated the 500 and always had a love affair with the 800. IMO the 500 is a 'dumbed down' version at the very least and is terribly inferior. But hey, I'm out of music now and my comments are MOP. My next move would be the 3x for sure.