Hi everyone,

I'm new here, But I'm looking into buying a new keyboard. Right now I don't have orintal keyboard but my friend is seeling Roland E500 for $1200, It's used for about a yewar and half, Is that a good price?

Please tell me what you think of this keyboard, I heard It's good for Egyption and Lebanese styles but not for Iraqi styles. Does anyone have any beats or sounds for this keyboard please. Also any sounds for the Korg I30. Please tell me if you do.
Thank You All

-that's because that keyboard was made by Egyptions and Lebanese people .

-you will like it cause you get to have effects and layer it too. and it have 64 polyphonic + a 16track composer with a good memory and a nice Editing stuff.but becarfule,it's not for "one man Band".that's why they have the "EM-50OR" now.

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vic:)

Thanks for the info :-)

before you buy this, compare it to GEM WK2 oriental.

Thanks A lot sk880user, Actually the guy who is selling me this keyboard, bought the WK2

What I love about the Roland 500E Oriental, Is the Arabic sounds, It's one of the best I heard so far, What I like about it is the continues option that It's got, so for example if you choose Qanon, there is 4 kind of qanon including the continues I think that is really nice. Do you know of other keyboards have that?

Thanks,
Sammer

Hi Sammer,
Roland has the best oriental sounds and oriental drumkit I have
ever heard (but I haven't heard the Ketron/
Solton X1 oriental). I believe Vic83 has
mentioned in the past that the
"Roland EM-50 oriental" has all the sounds
that the "E-500 oriental" has; however, it
is more of a toy keyboard because,among other
things, it only
has 24 voice polyphony and does not have a
full sequencer like the E-500 does.
The other thing I have read in previous posts
is that the E-500 has a lousy operating system, and may be flawed.
I think if you are looking at used keyboards,
I would look for a Roland G1000, or for a
Roland EM-2000. They were selling them new
for around $1000 less than a year ago.
They have almost all the oud and kanoun
variations that the E-500 has, and are top
of the line boards. The only bad thing is
that they may take a little longer to learn
than a GEM board, but are surely better than
learning the E-500.
I, personally, would not spend $1200 for a
used EM-500oriental($600 to $800 would be the
most).
Good luck.

//I think if you are looking at used keyboards,
I would look for a Roland G1000, or for a
Roland EM-2000. They were selling them new
for around $1000 less than a year ago.
They have almost all the oud and kanoun
variations that the E-500 has, and are top
of the line boards. The only bad thing is
that they may take a little longer to learn
than a GEM board, but are surely better than
learning the E-500.//


my Personal Opinion ...I think that the OS for the E-500OR is easier than the G-1000.the E-500OR is missing stuff in it's OS and it can be solved by a nice Update for the OS.but where dealing with Roland here so forget it.the G-1000 is nice but there is allot of buttons to press before you play any thing.IF you want the G-1000 then know that you will deal with E-40s sounds only.so as the Em-2000 AND (DISAPPOINTING!) VA-XX.E-500OR and Em-50OR have complete different sounds.

//before you buy this, compare it to GEM WK2 oriental.//

one thing the prevented me from buying the WK2OR is because there is no Seq.and it's only 32 Polyphonic.sounds were nice though.the E-500 have a Seq. and 64 polyphonic.there was WK3 which had a PERFECT SEQ.! but I don't know why they are not selling it no more.




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vic:)

Thanks guys this info is very helpful.

Hi Vic83,
I am a little confused at your last post.
Could you please clarify a few points.
You say that the OS for the E500OR can be
fixed by a nice Update by Roland. Does this
update actually exist? (If it doesn't, I doubt Roland would update a OS for a discontinued keyboard).

I realize that the G1000/EM2000 do not
have the complete oriental sound soundset
of the E500OR. Why the heck Roland doesn't
come up with a replacement for the E500OR,
(or at least a JV/SRX expansion card)is beyond me.
You had mentioned in another post that
the "EM50 OR" has ALL the oriental sounds
and drumkits of the "E500 OR". Is this correct?

Sammer,
If you are considering the GEM WK2OR,
I would suggest you listen to it on a
quality sound system. The sound quality
is definately inferior to the Roland boards.
I recently compared the "GEM PK5 OR" to the
"Yamaha PSR-550", and the Yamaha absolutely
SOUNDS much better than the GEM. The arabic
kit on the Yamaha actually sounds good too.
I liked it better than the two arabic kits on
the Korg PA-80.(However,PSR-550 has a lously "Riq tremelo" and the "zagruda stop" is not as
good as the GEM's).
The WK2OR
has the identical oriental soundset and
drumkit of the PK5OR. If you are considering
GEM, look at the WK6SE and WK8SE. Both these
boards have higher sound quality,from what
I have heard,than the WK2OR and PK5OR.
I hope this helps.

Vquestor, thanks bro,

Acutally the Gem WK2 just came down in price for $1200, now im consdering the WK2 because its brand new for the same price is th used Roland. BUT, I found a web site last night that is located in germany, And I was shcoked at the prices they have compering to a lot of places. They had the WK2 for $700 which is almost unbeleveble as well as the WK5 for like $300, Maqam.com sells the WK2 for $1200 and WK5 for around $700.

I do agree though that the Roland has better sounds, the 500 Roland sound great to me excpet I hate to buy something used for the same price or more as brand new WK2, But then again now i hear a lot of new arabic style keyboards coming out. But I guess if I wait I will never buy anything. hehe