I have both units sitting above each other the kn7000 on top and kn2600 bellow, only recently (after 5 years) I have started playing the kn2600 and found it to be a very nice keyboard, the speaker sound is a bit mellow from the kn7000, I like to load the sounds and patterns from SD cards I purchased from Strawberry and KN7000.net and they sound very close on both units. As far as giging I have not used either one with external PA or speakers so I can not be a fair judge, I still use my kn1000 since I have a lot of songs and patterns saved into floppies, I would like to convert them for the kn7000 but have no idea where to start.