E-mu PK-6

Price Paid: US $399

Ease of Use: 8
it's fairly easy to use with a fine sized LCD

Features: 8
this is a great controler with 4 assignable knobs that can be reassigned easily!
the keys are heavy and bouncy which i like them alot!
reguart to the sound pitch setting, as on many keyabords and synths the pitch band or often set at +/-2 instead of full octive.

i'm also supprised by the amount of patterns and phraeses are in this keyabord when you press "Audition" almost every sound have it's own short melody to be play and can be recorded into midi onto the sequencer!! it's not a groovebox tho!! check it out!

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
i would not think the accustic insturments are as good astoday's standard but its at Roland JV1080 level and as being mentioned the bass/efx sounds are phat and punchy and the chorded sounds are great to perform on the fly!
the onboard effects are fine and does the job, but i just wish there are more varity.
it's quite a responisve insturment as most of the sounds response to aftertouch and the controler have varity of velocity curves to choose from.
for the money it sounded decent

Reliability: 9
it's still alive!

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 8
as a synth keyabord it's a 10 for value, 7 for the overall sound
as a controler it's a 9 becasue the lack quick of octive jump feature
one again it's a great controler the aftertouch and semi weighted keys plus the additional sounds!! makes it a much better main controler than M-audio or Edriol at about the same price range!

Submitted by coz at 11/11/2005 17:18

Price Paid: US $325+tax used

Ease of Use: 7
the sound editing feature is quite easy to operate

no... quick octive key transpose is quite a let down!

all the sounds are sorted (one reviewer said it's not...haha yeah.. right...)

all the patches' pitch range are set at +-2...., in order to do a full octive jump with pitch wheel.... need to go in to patch edit menu to chage that perticully one.... yet... the pitch shifting sound really bad... feel like it's a actaully sample pitch shifting... instead of midi pitch shift

Features: 7
....dont care about the poly, since i'm using this as a controler mainly
i like the keyabord action~ it's heavier~ fast spring~ but a bit loud when the key bounces back
the aftertouch is decent
can change the CC# for the 4 knobs really fast

wish there a ribon controler haha... but oh well...

Expressiveness/Sounds: N/A
bass sounds are some of the phatest and punchiest!!!

wind/string/orch.... err...... well...

pads.... only few... very few sound okay....

piano.... okay... fine ... i guess

epiano.... a few good one... lots .... @#$@#$

synths/efx are actually really nice and phat!

drums... with a really nice collections of sounds!!
BUT too bad... with no GM spec, it can't use it as drum machine.... since theres no way you can pan every sounds in the drum patches, nor adjest the send and volume... well..... i guess.... they dont want to pay to patent

there are too many pathes are in 5th 7th...etc chords.... a bit way too much, well,....this can greatly impress newbies or non piano players....
chord patches.... are too commen on EMU roms.... prefer the midi chords like on the roland units

effects are ok... not enough varity.... not try to compite with roland or yamaha...

Reliability: 7
for some reason sometime the knob will send messages itself.... without me touching it... err....
but it happens rarely

Customer Support: N/A
i guess... there will be no real support anymore

Overall Rating: 6
not good looking that is for sure
if ur going to buy a all round synthkey, this one should not be considered
this is not a all around synth as EMU claimed, it's good for (house, hiphop, tehcno/experimental kind of eletronic music only (not for trance!!)

anyway, as a controler, it's great! the keyaction is better than other midicontroler with no sounds and "no Aftertouch"!!
plus it's always nice to have some sounds ready to play anytime, without the need of software running~

Submitted by xaa at 05/27/2005 20:42

Price Paid: US $300.00 used

Ease of Use: 8
The PK-6 is much easier to navigate than it's rack mount cousin the Proteus 2000, (which I also own) because it has buttons you can press to take you right to the parameter you want to edit, instead of scrolling that damn cursor around endlessly. There are also software editors out there, if you absolutely can't handle the interface.

Has four realtime controller knobs that control the most common parameters, but can be assigned to just about anything. It is very easy to tweak Filters, Volume Envelopes, LFO, FX on the fly with the knobs right there, I love it.

The front panel command function buttons can also be programmed to select presets (even on another synth) or can be used to trigger and latch notes. Pretty cool.

I think EMU's manuals are well written, much better than Roland's. This is good because EMU synths are very powerful and take a while to learn how to use to their full potential.

Features: 9
64 note polyphony, but I wish it had 128 like the Proteus 2000. The keyboard action is solid, not flimsy, and includes velocity and aftertouch.

Four layer voice architecture with velocity switching\crossfading. Each voice has the excellent EMU Z-plane filters to mangle your sounds with. Two effects processors, they are decent, but can only be used globally on all channels at once or by preset for one channel only.

Pretty full MIDI capabilites, the realtime controller knobs can transmit MIDI also. "Beats" mode play only sequencer is kind of cool for playing grooves to practice soloing on top of. Synchable arpeggiators that can run on all on sixteen channels at once if you are crazy enough!

Comes with 32 MB of ROM samples, which can be expanded to 128 MB with three of EMU's expansion ROMs (you'll have to look for them on EBAY because they are no longer made and some are highly coveted).

Like the P2k, it has a set of Main Audio Outs and Sub Outs. No SPDIF digital out, though.

Can store 64 User Multi-setups and 100 User Arrpegiator patterns.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
PK-6 has the Proteus Pop ROM, not the Composer ROM from the Proteus 2000. All the raw samples are the same, but the preset programming on the Pop ROM is MUCH better IMO. Lots of good synths, EPs, organs, sound effects, drum and percussion sounds. The pianos are OK, but not great, get the ZR ROM for Coakley's Perfect Piano. On the low end are the orchestral, brass and ethnic sounds, but this can be remedied with other ROMs. Yes, there are a lot of garbage presets, (hits and other goofy sounds) but any synth has it's share of those.

As most EMU owners will attest, you get the best results by tweaking or programming your own sounds. I have found that many 'thin sounding' presets are only a single layer, and can be made usable by doubling the layer and tweaking the filters and FX. It IS work, so if you just want to use presets and never program, this synth might not be for you.

The "Randomize Preset" function is a blast to play with if your bored.

Reliability: 7
Seems pretty sturdy. Very lightweight and portable but made of strong plastic. As long as you dont drop it, I'm sure you could gig with it without a backup.
My only concern is the front panel buttons, they dont really feel very 'solid'.

Customer Support: 3
Forget about it. EMU discontinued all their hardware instruments and now just make sound cards and software samplers. Too bad. I guess everyone wants to use a laptop on gigs now. Not me.

Overall Rating: 9
I would buy it again if I could find one. I've always liked EMU stuff, I also own a Proteus 2000 and a Planet Earth module. I bought this PK6 used and loaded it up with the Vintage, Sounds of the ZR, and Ensoniq Project ROMs from my Proteus 2000. Wow! Now I have a little portable monster of a keyboard with TONS of cool sounds in it. I'm mainly a guitarist, and this fills my needs just right. I have no desire to shell out the big bucks for a Motif or Triton.

These EMU keyboards are really underrated and a great value. The only thing I wish it had is a full onboard sequencer. If it had a sampler and sequencer it would be a 10, but for what I paid, it's definitely a 9. If you are in the market for an inexpensive, good quality synth, look for one of these. You might have problems finding some of the expansion ROMs though, since EMU stopped making them and their remaining stock was snatched up a few months ago. You can find them on EBAY from time to time.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/08/2004 12:19

Price Paid: US $300

Ease of Use: 5
I don't get the preset order. It makes no sense. Any musician would've put similar sounds together. But no. The presets are laid out in no logical order, whatsoever. Luckily, EMU saw that it made no sense, and allowed users to search by type of instrument. Unfortunately, the categories don't make sense either. One really great electric piano sound sits in the "Keys" category, another sits in the "Jam" category. Of course, you can always just scroll through the 153 unrelated sounds that sit between them...

Programming is pretty similar - not hard, just dumb. There's a bunch of really great instruments to start out with, but accessing them is a silly process. They should've just included them (individually) in the user presets.

Oh well.

Features: 10
yeah, it's got all the bells and whistles. like, literally.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
This thing has so many dumb and useless sounds, it's unbelievable. Seriously, unless you are recording music for video games, almost all of the patches are silly.

But - BUT - the wurlis, tines, rhodes, organs, electric pianos, and vibes sound AMAZING. The synths are pretty cool. For something that's not a piano (and for the price I paid) the pianos are okay.

Reliability: 9
It seems really well built. Very solid.

Customer Support: 10
I've never dealt with them. the manual is pretty nice. it smells good.

Overall Rating: 8
I'm happy with this keyboard. I'd be even happier if they laid out the presets in a logical way, and if they'd key their stupid guitar sounds to themselves. If yer in the market for an easy ep/organ option, the PK-6 should be on your short list.

Submitted by Anonymous at 12/04/2004 23:06

Price Paid: US $430 used

Ease of Use: 9
Very easy to use this synth. This is the first keyboard I've purchased & I did not understand a lot of the terminology before I bought it, but learned a lot after programming it. The menus are easy to navigate and patches are a breeze to edit. The manual is good, but not exceptional. It helps newbies like myself in a lot of ways, but doesn't cover every aspect.

Features: 10
For the price, the features are a 10. The 64 note polyphony is good, but not great. I can make it skip out regularly on some of my large patches. Expansion capabilities are good with three ROM slots. MIDI, velocity and aftertouch are great. The feel of this keyboard is fantastic. Not as solid as some boards, but awesome for the price. Effects and filters are great for the price.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
Some good, some bad. What is disappointing is that some of the patches are good over two or three octaves, but then they have three or four notes that sound bad. Some patches are good over only part of the keyboard.

The sounds/patches are not ALL bad as a few of the above reviewers have noted. I've created 6 or 7 really great piano patches (email me if you are interested) by some fancy programming (it just takes a bit of work, the reviewer above who said that he couldn't program ANY good patches just doesn't know how to program). Most of the patches are fine over the whole range (or at least the normal range of the instrument) & they are definately usable & very tweakable.

The piano patches are very good in spots, but probably an 7.5 overall because of a few bad samples. I've gotten a few patches to a 9 with some programming tricks.

Organs are good to great 9

Pads & Synth sounds are great (moogs, minis, saws etc), I've made some killer patches off of these 10.

basses are good 8

guitars are ok 6

strings are good 8

brass/horns are bad 4

rhodes are ok 6

wurleys and tines are great 9

drums and percussion are great 9

Reliability: 6
Hmmm. I've had a few problems in this department. Every once in awhile I have problems with some slight static and clicking. I've heard that this is due to fluctuating current & have not tried to have it fixed as it is only happens occasionally. I also have a problem with the MIDI knobs resetting themselves occasionally in the first few minutes after I turn it on (others have described this too). It seems to go away after about 10-15 minutes & only happens about every third or fourth time I turn it on. Weird.

Customer Support: N/A
Not sure how much you'll get with these boards being discontinued.

Overall Rating: 9
I'm pretty happy with this keyboard. I bought it about a year and a half ago & have had time to get used to it and put it throught its paces. Some of the sounds need tweaking, but overall, this board is great for the price. I don't think you can beat it for what it's selling for used on e-bay right now.

Submitted by Steve Wright at 09/03/2004 11:39

Price Paid: US $399

Ease of Use: 8
very straight forward. Piano presets are a little thin i thought (i usually beef these up by stacking presets & a little outboard EQ)
Awesome drum kits--though it sounds like a little reverb is on each hit making them sound a little samey overall.
Editing patches is fairly easy--i usualy try to do things without consulting the manual at first & the pk-6 is vey user friendly
The manual is very comprihensive

Features: 9
64 voice poly with built in effects---expansion is word for this keyboard--3 extra slots for ROM, full midi implimention
no onboard sequencer--no biggie to me
keyboard action is good for a plastic key setup--i've used worse

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
this ships with the composer sound set from EMU--like i said earlier, i think the pianos are little thin--but the strings, orchestra, synths, basses and drums are very, very good. I think this is a great keyboad to complement all the zany analogs out there these days, you never know when you need a good clarinet. effect are rich and deep--this is also one of the quietest keyboards i've ever used, virtually silent

Reliability: 8
i've only had this for about 3 months and i've never had a problem
i actually left this on for 2 straight weeks without a hitch
i don't gig with keyboards

Customer Support: N/A
haven't dealt with them on this keyboard--but i bought a emax in 1993
and emu was very helpful in a couple situations

Overall Rating: 10
a very professional sounding keyboard with great effects and truly awesome expansion capabilities. i bought this brand new for less than 400 bucks, an astounding bargin in my opinion. I have a collection of keyboards ranging from a juno106 to a nord lead 2x to a moog source and the pk6 is an instant classic. if this were stolen it would make me sad, so lets not even mention that. the one thing i wish this had was digital outs, i honestly think this should be a standard feature on all music based equipment from the cheapest dj mixer to high end workstations. i had the pk6 up and running in minutes with instant gradification--worth every penny

Submitted by christopher at 04/21/2004 13:33

Price Paid: US $400

Ease of Use: 7
i thought it was alittle difficult to figure out at first. (especially the simultanious arpeggiators) thankfully the manual is well written and quite helpfull

Features: 8
well i payed 400$ for this board and it does every thing i need it to do and more. wich is electronic (trance and ebm mostly)

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
I was not and am still not too impressed with the sounds on the composer's rom. the pianos organs and strings are usefull, but alot and the synths are good ,but alot of the extra sounds are alittle to jazz/fusion for me. I upgraded it with the beat garden(cool) and vintage synth (very cool especially when used with my electrix filter queen. makes for very convincing analogue synth sound. i've got it sounding damn close to a Nord Lead and did alesis Ion emulation dead on regarding filter sweeps)I thought the onboard filters where kinda thin. 8 for the composer's rom 9 for the other roms not kurzweil but pertty damn good.

Reliability: 6
Well the volume knob stopped working the day i got. other than that everything else has worked well. i trust gigging with (with a good case)

Customer Support: 7
takes alittle while to get the warenty registration back. other than that i havne't delt with them i have an e-mu authorized service center in my city

Overall Rating: 9
10 great value! i love it even though the volume knob messed up the first day i got it. add some extra effects and eq and you've got a top notch board (and great midi controller)

Submitted by kschumm at 02/11/2004 18:26

Price Paid: US $319

Ease of Use: 10
version 1.0 bought 11-2003 for $319 NEW.

Presets sound good, but I am not much of a programmer, so I need good sounds out the box. Manual is top of the line.

Features: 9
HATED the keyboard acyion at first but I did some adjusting on the keyboard action by editing MASTER VELOCITY CURVE to 3 and KEYBOARD VELOCITY CURVE to soft #1......Now it's got a GREAT FEEL! Not expressive like my old ENSONIQ VFX-SD but I'm used to it now.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
Pianos are quite good. Looking for the Expansion Rom Z-76 which they just discontinued for PERFECT PIANO BY WILLIAM CLOAKEY. No luck though. Strings are weak in my opinion. VFX-SD blew it away, plus I had some after market single string (VOICE CRYSTAL) which was by the the best I ever heard including TRITON. Drums are awesome. the effects are there. Works great for Rock and Ballads. Bottom line is you either can sing, play, or write or you can't. And all the latest gizmo's won't help you. It's the song that matters after all. And this modest puppy is ALL you need at a GREAT price.

Reliability: 10
Had it 3 months with no problems at all. I only use one keyboard at a time on stage and would feel safe with it.

Customer Support: 10
Great tech support---ALWAYS patient with my needs.

Overall Rating: 10
ABSOLUTELY i would buy another one if I lost it.........They are blowing these babies out, and to get a professional sounding keyboard for under $400 is UNREAL. I have been playing for 14 years. I needed a board after having lost my ENSONIQ VFX-SD & KORG TRITON STUDIO and because of budget was looking at portable keyboards like CASIO......ugh!!! Well I took the CASIO back and another salesman at guitar center sold me this one for $319. I can write on it and the beats are inspiring...for $319....YOU CAN'T TOUCH THE VALUE ANYWHERE!

Submitted by Steve Altonian at 01/15/2004 02:14

Price Paid: US $525.00

Ease of Use: 8
This is version 1.0...the only? version I think that there is. I submitted a review previously, but I had onlt owned the unit for a week or so, and since then I have had the chance to really get into it. The manual has been helpful at times, but generally, when you get around the board and start playing with it, you can see how the OS works. I must say that for practice with the band and with the few patches that I have made, it is very versatile. Having a bigger viewscreen would be a major improvement, but I understand that raises the cost.

Features: 7
It has 64 Note Polyphony, and nowadays, that is pretty much standard. I will say that with up to four layers per sound, you can eat the poly very quickly. The effects seem to be fine. I do like the separate Chorus on each part of the voice; that works out well. I have had to add a lot of chorus to my patches for me to like them. It is an expressive board and it blends well with its friends in the recording studio. There is definitely a 'sound' to it that makes it different from the others. There is not a sequencer on this unit, but there is an arpeggiator and it does 16 at once. Not too bad. I have not used the sequencer yet but palying around with it has some fun stuff. I do seem to like the one on my Roland XP60 better. I suppose the one things that really bugs me is that it always seems to me in Multi-mode. I like to use it for a just a few patches when I am using it as a module onstage (to compliment the XP60). There is a string patch Bank 0 #79 (BroadFilmPad) and when I go into sequencer mode on the XP60, I get all of the other channels on the Emu to play too. I do not like that. When I simply turn them down, that helps, but all of that extra polyphony is still being used up by sounds I do not want to hear. I would like to have a Patch Mode where is in monotimbral or something so I do not have to unhook the MIDI cable. Maybe I am stupid or something....If you know, please help.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
The sounds to me are a mixed bag. The pianos are so empty to me. I am not sure what others are talking about when they say the pianos are good. To me, they are very empty and almost sound like my pianos on my Alesis QS6 (the original). They are very lifeless and increasing the Cutoff Filter simply gives them a brighter but grainy tone. Too much chorus puts me in the ragtime mood, so I am lucky to have the Roland that I have (not that it is super like my Technics was) but it cuts through the mix and sounds very good). I do like the Rhodes sounds and the Wurly and Clav sounds (just add more chorus to them). I do like the patch I talked about earlier. It really supplements my string sounds in my mix. I like the EP as well, it has that FM like quality to it, but yet sounds warmer. The woodwinds are marginal at best and sound better in an ensemble (which is how I use them anyway). The leads sounds to me do nothing. The only board that has good leads (for me anyway) have been my Ensoniq SQ2 and the Alesis QS6. Those two are great for sounds like that. The strings are passable, but I would rather stick with Patch 79 and strings from the Rolands and the Ensoniq. I do like the Super Beats Mode though and it is fun to play with every now and then. I do wish there were more pads in this thing, since I am trying to only bring 2 boards to my gigs now. I still find myself bringing the Korg X5 to the gigs to make the pad sounds (which means I gotta bring a mixer, etc....)

Reliability: 8
I think that I could use this unit without a backup, but my sounds would be severly limited. The pianos just don't have the sustain that I would like and it just doesn't cut through as a main board for me. As a second board it really works well and that is how I use it. I do use it sometimes at practice by itself, but that is just for the time and laziness factor. Overall, it is a good board and the expandability of it makes it worth while. I will be getting some expansion ROM for it and I think that will help too.

Customer Support: N/A
I have not dealt with customer support with either E-Mu or Ensoniq. I suppose that they are like most of the others....not very helpful unless you are willing to pay $$ for the help.

Overall Rating: 8
Overall, I think that it is a good investment. You have to know what kind of board you are buying, becuase they all have their own place in the audio society. I have yet to see a board that can do all styles and be all things and be very well priced.
Here is how I use my setup:

Ensoniq SQ2 - Oboe, Violin, Flute, Clarinet, Strings, Soprano Sax.
Korg X5 - Pads, Lead Sounds, Guitar (lead sounds), sax.
E-Mu PK6 - String (Patch #79) and EP type sounds.
Roland JV880 - Drums and Bass (On sub outs), EP (on main outs).
Roland XP60 - Drums and Bass (on sub outs), Piano, Strings, some Synth Pads.
Alesis QS6 - Leads, Pads, Synthy type stuff.
Yamaha TG33 - Pads (great vector stuff with it).
Yamaha DJX - Dance beats and that is about it.

The point is that you can have great sounds if you buy the right boards. I stress this all the time. I think that if we were all just a little more educated when buying our equipment, we would be much happier with the results. I have made some big purchasing mistake in the past (I remember a Kawai KC10 that just sucked big time and my Yamaha QY10) I also remember unloading a Kawai K3M, two Korg Poly 800's, two Poly 800 MKIIs, Ensoniq Mirage...should I go on?

Anyway, I like the E-mu. It is a good instrument with a lot of possibilites. To be honest, I would buy another one too, but I might make it one of the other models of *K-6 or the Ensoniq Halo. I would like to have a variety (just like I already do).

Gear I currently own;

Alesis QS6
E-Mu PK6 (this is reviewed here)
Ensoniq SQ2 32 Voice
Korg X5
Roland JV880
Roland XP60
Yamaha DJX
Yamaha TG33
Roland VG-8

Submitted by Harry Ebbeson III at 10/31/2003 12:05

Price Paid: US $399.95

Ease of Use: 9
Software v1.01

Good manual - Better than most.

Please see details below

Features: 9

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9

Reliability: 9

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9

The EMU PK6 first got my attention a little over a year and a half ago when I saw it featured in a Musician's friend catalog. At the time, it was priced at $899 and that was an attractive price. For various reasons I hesitated to buy it and instead purchased a lot of other synth gear. One of those reasons why I didn't buy it was that I read so many reviews where people were harshly criticizing the PK6/Proteus2000 sounds/samples. Since I didn't have a music shop nearby where I could audition it, I couldn't really form a first-hand opinion. But, when the price recently dropped to $399 I could no longer resist; I had to buy one!

First off, and as others have pointed out (and contrary to EMU's description), you'll be happier with the PK6 if you don't think of it as having a "bread and butter" soundset - It's probably better for electronica.

The good: Many of the pianos are beautiful! I'm not a classical pianist but I wouldn't need any better piano sounds than what the PK6 offers. Honestly, I like the PK6's piano sounds even better than Roland's acclaimed Session piano sounds. (However, I think the PK6's Rhodes EPs are just so-so at best, nothing more.) I'm also no old skool Hammond organ expert but I do think the B-3 sounds are pretty good if you need an occasional B-3 in your music. There are lots of basses and, to my ear, many of them are good. There are some good pad sounds although I wish there were more. "Simplex" is a very nice string pad that should work for almost any kind of music. (Surprisingly, there's no generic "Warm Pad/Pop Pad" included but those are easy to make by just taking a string preset and then cranking down a low pass filter and then lengthening the amp attack and decay.) I didn't notice many (if any?) pad sounds that were prevoiced as chords that some people have complained about. I noticed it on just a few patches in other categories though. IMO, string sounds are among the most subjective of the already highly subjective area of sound preference but, personally, I like the PK6's string sounds. I'm pretty picky about string sounds but I think those on the PK6 are very usable. (I use string sounds for background padding and pop leads rather than for true orchestral arrangements.) There are some good synth brass patches but some of the other brass is a mixed bag. For example; "Bone Glide" is a sad joke but "3 Bones" is decent. (BTW, I played trombone throughout my school years.) There are a lot of drum kits but that's something I don't use so I don't know if they're good or not. There's also a lot of guitar presets, but, again, it's something I don't use. It's hard for me to imagine anyone really using a synth keyboard for guitar parts although I'm sure some people do. (I'd rather the sample space were allotted to something else though.) I've always liked choral voice sounds and I would have to say that the PK6's are mediocre...not horrible but certainly not great. I actually like the original Proteus 1 better for choral voices. The saxophones are so bad that they hurt your overall perception of the PK6 - That's awefully bad!!! The woodwind sounds are poor to marginal at best also. EMU really shouldn't have even bothered including these sounds because they tend to stick in your mind in a negative way more so than the good sounds do in a positive way!

Admittedly, there aren't a lot of "WOW!!!" presets that you notice upon the first auditioning but there are many presets that can be GREATLY improved with minor knob tweaks. There's just something satisfying about feeling like you've been able to improve the factory sounds and it's very easy to do on the PK-6. In this respect I'd say it's similar to the DarkStar XP2 in that it's soooo easy to improve the presets with just a couple knob twists. Two examples of that are a preset called (something like) "Brassitude" - just open up the filter a bit and increa

Submitted by Dan at 10/27/2003 09:16

Price Paid: US $499

Ease of Use: 8
The presets are pretty good actually. You can do some deep editing on this thing! Some of the editing is a little confusing but that is only when you try to get really into it. The manual is a thick book that is written clearly.

Features: 9
THe keyboard action is more like a synth than a piano. It has 2 fx processors so you can do combos of reberb, delay, chorus, distortion, etc... Plus there is a separate chorus processor. Plus there are the LFO processors. You can really tweak this thing. Everything but the LFOs are easy to use.

It has expansion capabilities if you want to add more sounds....but I found the built-in sounds adequate.

There are some midi capabilities.
It has a play-only sequencer.
It has drum sounds and progressions (called "super-beats) that you can include or exclude track by track so you can play on top of.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
I was pretty happy with the acoustic piano. There are some great B3 patches that I was pleasantly surprised to find! There are a couple Rhodes that are decent but I just couldn't get enough bite. The Clav and Wurlitzer are great!

Reliability: 5
Unfortunately, It arrived with a bug that made the cursor skip around the menus every few times I turned it on. Otherwise it seems like it would be ok to gig with.

Customer Support: N/A
I decided to return it to dealer in order to buy a PA.

Overall Rating: 9
This keyboard surprised me with its good sounds. I would have kept it if not for the bug and the need for a PA. I compared it to a Kurzweil SP76. The piano on the Kurzweil is better and that also has better piano action but for all other sounds (B3 organ and Rhodes) I would recommend the Emu PK6!

Submitted by Anonymous at 09/21/2003 19:59

Price Paid: US $599

Ease of Use: 8
To start, I should explain that I purchased the PK-6 as a controller to replace my old DX7. To my amazement, I found the controllers on the market to be vastly over-priced. So, I figured for just a little bit more money than a low-end controller, I could buy the PK6 and get some of the P2K sounds thrown in as well. I have had the PK6 for a while now, and am only getting around to the review. I paid $599 for it about four months ago. So far, it has been worth the money.

My PK6 must have been old stock. Only has OS1. It is not the most stable OS out there. Inevitably, one of the assignable knobs (left panel) will self-activate and screw up the sound. Seems to happen only once every time I turn it on, so when I start up, I just hit keys a while until it happens and then it is OK.

The presets are quite uneven. To be honest, I found this generation of Proteus to be a disappointment. I was a proud owner of the original Proteus and invested in the excellent Vintage Keys module as well. So, do not think that I am some rabid Korg only, Roland only, orYamaha only zealot. Indeed, I have owned Emu, Roland, Yamaha and GEM gear. I will discuss the sounds in more detail further on.

I find programming to be straightforward. I am accustomed to the EMU interface, so I am not overly bothered by the small LED. Is no worse than my Roland XV-5050. BUT, the Roland has a software patch editor which is pretty handy-dandy. Too bad that the PK6 didn't come with one.

The manual is ok. It does not cover everything, for all its size. For example, not all the velocity curves are charted in the manual that came with mine. Fortunately, I was easily able to obtain a downloadable manual off the internet. Perhaps new PK6 stock has the updated manual.

Features: 9
Polyphony is 64. Realistically, it is typically 32, 16 or less. This is par for the course in this price-range. My XV-5050 only has 64 polyphony as well. It too starts stealing notes when flagship patches are used. What can I say? More polyphony is better.

Built in effects are fine. In addition to chorusing, two effects can be applied to a given patch. NOTE: they can only be applied to one patch when played multi-timbrally. The effects do the trick for the most part; they are perhaps a little under-stated in the presets.

The PK6 has expansion cards, but I do not own these, so I can't comment. I wouldn't mind grabbing a vintage keys card, having tested the vintage keys board that came out a month after I bought the PK6.

The PK6 supposedly has a decent arpeggiator. Don't use them, so I can't comment. Ditto for the beats mode.

Midi implementation is fine for my needs. Read my review about the XV-5050 for an explanation of why I had to buy a controller! The keyboard is rather synthetic, but actually has grown on me a lot. I find it better than the DX-7 keyboard that I used for years. Can calibrate and assign controller (wheels, aftertouch) sensitivity etc.
The velocity curves on for the keyboard are ok, but not optimal for my playing. But hey, what do you expect for $599?

The PK6 has many differnt (z-plane?)filters. This is where it really shines compared to Korg, Roland, Yamaha et cie. Of course, filters are best suited to waveforms / samples with high harmonic content. This means that the PK6 can produce some good synthy sounds from good old triangle and saw waves. (Who needs a z-plane filter applied to a piano, or B-3 sample?)

No onboard sequencer. Computers are better for this anyhow, so I do not see this as a loss. Why pay for something I will never use?

For the price, this board has a ton of features. In fact, if you have a budget of $600 and need the best bang for the buck, you will not find any other board to compete with the PK6 and its sister models.

My disappointment with the PK6 stems from the fact that I have expensive tastes and would have preffered better raw samples.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
Indeed. The PK6 suffers from some very marginal samples. This problem is exacerbated by mediocre preset programming. (This was one of the main reasons I purchased a Roland XV-5050 rather than the Proteus 2500.) Rather than focusing on high quality sample / waveform content, EMU went the "more is less" route. Yes, there are tons of raw waveforms, but most of these are not usable or have very limited value. For example, the PK6 actually has WORSE samples of B3s than my far older EMU Vintage Keys module! Some the string samples are no better than those found on my Proteus 1 I purchased in 1989! There are glaring split point problems in some samples, resulting in extreme shifts in harmonic content. The B3 samples are ruined because of shoddy sample / split point work. Booo.

The brass, wind, and string samples are equally uneven and are often alarmingly weak. In this area, the PK6 will not fool anybody. (My XV-5050 categorically destroys the PK6 in terms of its orchestral/guitar content.) The PK6 has no usable classical organ or vocal samples either!!!!

In a really annoying quirk, much of the sample content for pads is unusable, except as percussion because it is in pre-set "jazzy" voicings! Dammit! Let ME decide what chords I want to play. This is what happens when keyboards get designed for drummers.

Finally, in terms of negative comments on the sample content, the PK6 contains an awful lot of wasted samples: unbelievable guitars (I do not mean this in a good way), lame guitar effects, and other sound effects that while initially intriguing become tiresome after five minutes. I believe that EMU has ended up pleasing nobody by trying to please everyone. 50 percent of the sample content sucks. Period.

After all that negativity, I do believe that there are enough good samples on the board to redeem it - especially when one remembers the price of the PK6. I find the piano to be better than the XV-5050 and find the Rhodes and Wurlitzer presets to be quite serviceable. Many presets are less glossy than Roland fare, and are often more usable as a result. There are a lot of decent drum and bass sounds on the PK6. They are actually quite good. Finally, there are many excellent waveforms sampled from vintage syths. When combined with the various filters, the classic synth samples are really top-notch. As such, I believe that the PK6 is actually a techno / dance board rather than a GM board. If you are willing and able to program, the PK6 offers a pretty heavy punch.

In light of the above, I would not recommend the PK6 for jazz, classical, and organ-oriented fare. The PK6 is above average in terms of its Rhodes, Wurlitzers and piano patches. It is excelelnt for dance/techno/house etc.

Reliability: 6
I have owned EMU products for over 13 years. Have had no real problems. I am sure that the PK6 is reliable for gigging as long as one is aware of the startup OS glitch mentioned above. For all I know, this may have been eliminated in other software versions.

Customer Support: 10
I contacted EMU about information on velocity curves etc. I had to look a while to find the phone number on the website. When I did find it, however, it worked. Thumbs up.

Overall Rating: 7
If my PK6 were lost or stolen, I would probably buy the new EMU Vintage Keys board instead. I find it to be better value because the orchestral/guitar/sax content of the PK6 is a relative waste of ROM. I still think the various EMU products are great value. You cannot buy more synth for 600 bucks. At the very least, you have a decent controller with some good sound generating capability. I would recommend the PK6 to anyone with a tight budget. That said, the PK6 should not be overlooked by the more affluent. I find that it compliments my XV-5050, and my Pro1 (mid-range fare to be sure). I am sure that it can compliment other setups as well. Because it packs a lot of whollup for its price, I give the PK6 an 7. Had the raw sample content and presets been better, I would have given it the 10 deserved by its other features.

Submitted by sean at 05/29/2003 18:12

Price Paid: US $520.00

Ease of Use: 8
I am using the latest version of software for the unit. It seems to load the OS and everything as the unit powers up. Interesting feature. Overall, I think the sounds are pretty good. I would not use the pianos in a solo situation (unless I tweak them first and then try it), but the strings are reall kinda neat. There is a Film Score patch (I think it is Bank 0 #79) and it really is expressive. I like how it sounds. I also like the SuperBeats mode. There is some fun stuff in there that can help creativity. The patch editing seems to be pretty flexible, but I have not used it yet. The manual seems to be pretty easy to read as well. I have only had this keyboard for about a week, so getting around it is still new, as are going thru the presets. But thus far, it has been on a gig and worked well on the gig.

Features: 9
64 note polyphony. That is pretty standard nowadays and it seems to be enough. I also like the expandability of the unit. To be able to get 128mb worth of sounds out of one synth and have well over 1600 patches is cool. I would for sure put together some kind of preset user bank though with everything I would normally use right up front for easier access (had that trouble on the gig over the weekend. Was playing the other board with one hand while fumbling thru presets on the Emu....The action does not mean a whole lot to me, since it is probably going to be MIDIed up to other units in my studio. It is too bad that we cannot actually get polyphony expansion on the plug-in boards though. That would be neat. The MIDI capabilities seem to be pretty extensive as well, and I am sure that will not get into them all that much. Iw ill probably set up a Multi Setup or to and just program change for studio work and setup the others for live use.
Overall, this unit is cool and I dig the filters and some of the solo voices.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
Again, the piano to me is very weak. To me the Roland pianos are much more expressive and full, but then the board was 3 times the price of the PK-6. The strings are good, and the drums seem to be cool too. I like pads and this one does not have too many of them, but the ones in there are good. The organ sounds are quite good and are better than Roland's organ. The Wurly and Rhoades patches seem to be cool too. To me the best Rhoades sound is still the original Rhoades (I might be getting one of them very soon), and the Alesis QS6 (which I also own, but is in the shop...hopefully with just a bad power supply). The unit is touch sensitive and works well so incoming MIDI messages and processing the data.

Reliability: 9
This unit seems to be reliable. I have a hard case for most of by gear and this went to the gig in an SKB hard case. I am sure that it would work well in one of my other cases too, so that is not an issue. It seemed to be reliable during the gig. I would not use it by itself, as I always bring 3-4 boards to the gig for that layered sound. Plus, only 64 voice polyphony during a gig is just not enough. You need multiple sound sources to make the sounds come alive...

Customer Support: N/A
I have not dealt with E-mu's support line and I never hope to. I have heard stories about how nice they are, but never come thru on the goods....That okay, I own Enosniq too and they were the same way....

Overall Rating: 9
My overall impression of this board is that it is very agressive in is sounds and seems to hold up well in the wall of sound I make. As I have stressed in all of my other reviews, each keyboard has a special place in the sonic creation department. Find a board that meets your needs and go from there. This is a bread and butter type board for me and that is what I am going to use it for. The pianos might not get used, but I am sure that I will use the strings and other sounds. I think the lead sounds are going to be fun too and as I explore the board more, I will find out. I do dig the filter stuff though and being able to tweak it live is way cool. Plus, this board looks neat on the rack next to my others.

I also own the following gear:

Alesis QS6
Ensoniq SQ-2 32 Voice
Korg X5
Roland JV880
Roland XP-60
Yamaha TG-33
Yamaha DJX

Submitted by Harry Ebbeson III at 04/07/2003 13:38

Price Paid: 450 (Pounds sterling)

Ease of Use: 9
Think the software version's 1.01... as a general rule, the presets sound pretty good. I compared it in shop over about 2 hours with a Roland XP-30 and a Triton Le, and the sound quality was pretty similar, I felt, but this had a more instantly useable selection for the style of music I play (mostly prog-rock).

Other people have commented that the patches are a bit thin sounding, and I'd go along with that. However, editing the patches is a dream! OK so because it's so easy it's also easy to make things sound a bit iffy, but practice makes perfect. Within 24 hours of getting this keyboard I'd set up 14 usable sounds by modifying presets, and I'm still happy with 11 or 12 of them (the others I've over-written).

I find the manual to be excellent... it's also well constructed so it doesn't fall apart in the hand. Although sometimes the index is a bit cryptic, the contents pages at the start are much more useful, and everything is written in clear English, not suspectly translated from Japanese or whatever!

I've tried editing sounds before, on Rolands (D-50 and JV-35) and Yamahas (DX-21 among others) and found them horridly confusing. This isn't like that at all. Most impressive!

Features: 8
64 note poly, nice synth keyboard action... edges of some of the keys are a bit rough, but not too horrid and you soon learn to avoid them. Aftertouch has a really positive feel to it.

I haven't messed with any of the built in effects yet, as I've only used it for recording, and if there were effects already on the patch I used them, otherwise I added them externally to suit. I like what I hear, anyway.

Expansion potential was a big selling point for me... I'm not the kind of person who'd want 10 keyboards on stage (I play guitar live as well) so the ability to add 3 extra ROMs is great. I can't afford them as yet, but I fully intend to fill them up soon!

In terms of MIDI capabilities, I've not used much aside from using it as a sound module connected to Sonar... What little I've done with it, it's done fine and I'm quite happy with it. I don't expect to get much more involved than that!

I use Cakewalk Sonar 2 as my sequencer, so intentionally didn't pay extra for a keyboard with a sequencer... it'll mostly be used live, and we couldn't really sequence anything for our live set (or if we did, our main keyboardist would sort that out, I just play the notes!)

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
As I said at the start, I found the sounds instantly usable... I tweaked a few to my taste, and I'm still hunting around for a few sounds, but I'm the kind of person who can gig on 32 sounds (I currently have about 20 that I'm happy with). The string sounds seem to lack a bit of attack, they're a little more pad-y than I would like, but the pianos, organs and synth sounds are fine.

I don't know that I would use it for classical music without adding the orchestral ROMs and maybe the ZR76 ROM for the piano sound. The orchestral sounds are fine for use in pop and rock music, but the discerning listener would tell in an instant that they were synthetic. Which is fine by me, as I mostly play rock music!

I play in a band with another keyboardist who has a Roland JV1080 and a whole load of other gear... so my role is mostly pads and lead lines, which this synth is ideal for. I've done a bit of more dance-y music with it (the patch sfx:Quavering came very close to what I wanted for one particular piece) and it's come out well... the drums seem to be better geared to dance than anything, but then you'd expect that from any keyboard (we use real drums and percussion anyway).

I've found it generally to be quite expressive... it's made me sound like I want to sound (playing deficiencies aside!) and has responded to everything I've thrown at it. I've not played a million different keyboards, so I can't really compare in terms of velocity and aftertouch response, but I've found both very positive and they've done what I expected them to.

Reliability: 8
It's been very reliable so far, and I would definitely gig without a backup for now, as it's all I can afford. Yes it's a little bit plasticky, but that does make it lighter, and I transport it in a decent case and put it on a sturdy stand. So no complaints so far (although if I were going on a major tour I'd obviously take a spare!)

Customer Support: N/A
Not had any dealings with them.

Overall Rating: 9
If, God forbid, it went walkies, I wouldn't hesitate to replace it with another one. There's nothing like it for the price (well, apart from the Halo, MK6 and XK6 from the same stable!) and I've been nothing but impressed with it so far. No, it's not a Triton, but it's way cheaper, and I like the way it looks and sounds. I got it in a sale, saved myself quite a few pounds on the retail price, and that was great cos I'm a student at the moment and money is tight. Once I graduate, I fully intend to get myself another model (probably the Halo) and fill them both up with ROM cards so I've got a better selection of sounds at my disposal.

I've been playing piano for 20 years, keyboards on-and-off for 15, and have owned and used all kinds of stuff. I haven't had a synth for the past couple of years, since my Juno 6 died, as finances were limited, so I've just been using an Evolution controller keyboard and software synths for recording.

Is there anything I hate about it? No, not really... it's heavier than it looks, although this aids stability, and I would have liked it to have a 2nd footswitch socket, but it's a great piece of kit. I use it with a cheapo footswitch / sustain pedal and a Roland EV5 expression pedal, and it's as expressive as I need it to be. The pitch bend and modulation wheels feel really responsive (unlike that horrid joystick thing on the Rolands (the Korg one is much better)). A ribbon controller would be a nice addition, but that'd bump the price, I expect.

Overall, I like this keyboard... a lot. If you're in any doubts, go and try one out, they're great!

Submitted by Martin Cliffe at 01/21/2003 04:41

Price Paid: 700 (Euro)

Ease of Use: 9
Like every E-mu product, this one is also very easy and straightforward to use.If you're used to work with E-mu synths you'll feel right at home, even in the sound departement there are some recognisable sounds from earlier proteus-range. The four control knobs come in very handy if you want to squeek that low pass filter or set the attack time of a sound etc.

Features: 8
The features are that of a modern synth. 64 polyphony, effects, aftertouch,multi-timbral. And lots and lots of sounds.It even has an expansion slot for adding in new sounds like that of the Phatt or XL module. Since it is aimed at gigging or studio environments, it has no sequencer or no disk-drive.For storing sounds there are 512 ram slots available.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
The PK-6 has more then 1000 presets but they don't really justify the potential of this board. With some minor programming you'll be able to come up with better sounds. Compared to some Roland or Korg boards, the E-mu effectsprogramming is very sparse and you'll want to add some reverb yourself.The acoustic piano's sit very well in the mix but played solo they lack some exspressiveness of the Yamaha's and Roland's out there.
The Rhodes and Wurlitzer-patches are very good.This board has some excellent bass and synth sounds and the electronic drums are very punchy.For guitars and sax-patches, look elsewhere, although the trombone,clarinet and flutes are very good.As mentioned before the PK-6 sits very well in every mix and has a very penetrating sound. With this instrument not only the guitarplayer can shine while soloing.

Reliability: 8
It has never let me down, just like any other E-mu gear.
Had problems with Roland gear though.
The buttons on the PK-6 seem fragile but hadn't have any problems with them so far.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with E-mu suppport. Never needed them.

Overall Rating: 10
I own every brand of synths (Roland,Yamaha,Korg,...)and also the E-mu Vintage keys. Always have good comments about my sounds. The PK-6 needs some tweaking to produce fabulous sounds but it is capable of producing them because under the hood rests a powerfull synth beast. I don't bother with the arpeggio or beats mode but it is funny as a gimmick. I would definetly buy it again because it has excellent value for the money.
For gigging musicians, this really a guitarist competitor when soloing, but is also capable of laying down some nice pads in the back.

Submitted by Peter Bressinck at 01/14/2003 07:59

Price Paid: US $500

Ease of Use: 8
I haven't gotten to every feature. I have only had mine a month or so at this point. Getting around seems ok. Assigning patchs to midi channels has been pretty easy. Configureing the external outputs(subs) hasn't been happening yet. The presets sound good. I can hardly wait to program my own and give the unit my flavor.There are some great sounds in here though, Some solid, contemporary useful sounds. What you would expect from a 2002 keyboard. Good varity of drums getting past the whole 808/909 thing with a little dirt to 'em. There is a great TB 303 sound and some nice melodic synth sounds..but these are the types of sounds I look for. You may be looking for something else..or find yourself being pleased with some of the orchestra sounds.

Features: 10
Polophony is good. One of the selling points for me.
Good sounding built in effects.
Very expandible with slots for 3 emu cards. But they are pricey.
Standard MIDI + filter control read by sequencer (pretty cool)
No on board sequencer...good selling point for me. Have a sequencer don't want to pay for another!

Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
Great sounds. Z-plane morpheus filter. Front panel filter control.
I think it has 1000 sounds. They show some variaty and they have character and usefulness. Many parameters for sound design.

Reliability: 8
Seems to be a good studio keyboard esp as a module.Pefect for desktop studio. Gig?This is the unit's short-comming. The chasis is thin plastic. The data wheel could fall off and the buttons stick like they were built very cheaply.I forgive Emu, the price is low and the features are breathtaking for the price. I bought it didn't I?

Customer Support: 9
I have called them a couple of times, but still haven't ironed out my external output situation but they are polite.

Overall Rating: 10
Super, super deal. I feel like I have invested well into my musical future. Now I just have to remember not to leave it too long in my friend's studio because he smokes in there!

Submitted by Justin at 11/04/2002 08:31

Price Paid: US $600

Ease of Use: 8
Beginning playing is pretty intuitive, the 16 knobs give easy access to ADSR characteristics. The menu system doesn't take long to catch on to. The one confusing thing at first may be the layers...I didn't realize that you had to put the effects on each instrument layer for a preset.

Features: 10
Keyboard action - flexible, there are a dozen velocity curves you can set for your style of playing.
Effects - There are like 20 reverbs to play around with which sound pretty cool, you can compound those with "Effect B" which is effects like flanging, chorus, delay/ping-pong, distortion.
Also, the patch cords give you a whole lot of flexibility to change instruments - they are programs that take an input and change a sound characteristic. You can make your own effects with patch cords, like tremolo.
Expansion - Slots for ROMs that you can order with sound sets like World Instruments
Sequencer - None but I don't need one I prefer just using my 4-Track.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
Instruments - Lots of B-3 organ variations, lots of Electric Pianos. It even has some Moog samples which are fun. I don't like the guitars much, but why would you doing play guitar on a keyboard? Strings sound pretty good, I've gotten "Eleanor Rigby" fare out of them. The other orchestral instruments sound decent with some tweaking, especially if you take off the patch cord that screws with pitch. Drum sets are decent. There is a whole lot of variety on this keyboard.

Music style - I play a lot of Beatles, psychedelic and fusion. The keyboard serves my purposes very well. I made an awesome flanged moog instrument that sounds great even solo. For dance there are lots of kits and beats to play with.

Reliability: 8
It seems to be dependable, I've had it for coming up on three months so far. I would probably use it on a gig without backup because it is very flexible and there is a whole lot of sound you can get out of it.

Customer Support: 10
I sent in a rebate I found on E-MU's site for a free sound rom. I got it in the mail. To my surprise I also found Steinberg's Cubasis, which E-MU sent me even though the offer had expired two weeks before I could apply for it.

Overall Rating: 10
If I lost/stole this synth, I would buy it in a heartbeat. The $600 I paid for it was a nice deal from $900 I had seen it elsewhere. The free ROM and Cubasis only sweetened the deal. This keyboard is highly flexible and has a whole lot of power, with all kinds of both vintage and modern sounds - exactly what I was looking for. If you are someone who enjoys tweaking with sounds and experimenting, definitely buy this synth. I would recommend it for just players too, but the real strength of this keyboard is the high number of parameters you can change.

Submitted by Anonymous at 10/12/2002 08:26

Price Paid: 650 (GB pounds)

Ease of Use: 8
didnt take long to get working.the preset are really impressive. editing patches is fairly easy . i thought the manual althought 200 pages was a bit short on details.

Features: 8
polyphony is 64 and this is just right. the FX soud ok but the routing could have been more flexible. Expansion is really a big plus. i took advantage of the special offer and got an orchestral board which wasnt too bad. i d like to try the analog boards. it hasnt got a build in sequencer but i never use them on synths. it has a loop 16 parts player which i used straight away on a film score with great results.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 7
pianos are really good with a great choice of them . guitars so so .basses are plenty . great pads . a bit short on fx type of sounds.
havnt tried on board fx so far.

Reliability: 8
the unit sound solid
would use it on a gig no problem

Customer Support: 8
got the free board fairly fast .

Overall Rating: 9
good value for money. not on the same league as triton or motif but plenty of scope to explore the machine. would definitly buy it again.
been playing with it for 1 month. also own korg wave station , gem s2 . d10 akai s3000. really love the simplicity , price , expension facilities, hate manual , output routing are aa bit rigid.
did lots of research before buying it. would be great with 6 outputs.
already used it to write film score.

Submitted by jonlebon at 07/27/2002 14:14

Price Paid: US $850.00

Ease of Use: 9
I'm not sure which software version this unit has, but it's a fairly recent one, and I don't there've been too many revisions on this one yet.

I feel that this board is easy to use once you get the hang of it, since pretty much all synths have their own interfaces. There is an editing matrix which allows you to edit all of the parameters via four control knobs. Obviously, analog synths are far easier to operate than something like this, but they also tend to have a fraction of the parameters, and therefore have less variation in the sounds that they can produce.

Editing patches is really not a problem unless you are creating a sound from scratch, in which case SoundDiver(from Emagic) or Midiquest(from SoundQuest) might be a good idea.

Although presets are 99% of the time never indicative of an instrument's true potential, I have to say that there's a excellent number of usable presets: pianos(acousting & electric), piano-blends, synths, basses, strings, pads, efx, and some other instrument emulations. My only gripe is that they don't exploit more than a fraction of this board's potential(see below).

The manual, while not perfect, is one of the best I've yet to see. Nearly every feature on the synth(as well as some programming terms...) are explained for the user. It IS a large manual though, so as long as you're not intimidated by a 200+ page manual, you're in good shape. It's far better than any I've seen from Yamaha or Roland....

Features: 9
64-note polyphony with 4-element/oscilator voices, although you will encounter some-note robbing, depending on which type of filter(of which there are over 50-types!)you use for your sound. Keyboard action is semi-weighted, but the quality of it's really subjective. If you're used to cheaper keyboards, you might find it a bit stiff and heavy at first. Piano players might find it a little loose - it all depends on your background and preference, but I find this action suits me well.

2 built-in effects units, which I feel sound pretty good, but I'm not one to use a lot of effects on a synth sound - I would prefer to apply them in a mix. LOTS of expansion capabilities here, as you can add up to 3 32 MB expansions, and there's about a dozen of them available(B3, Techno, Hip-hop, Orchestral, World Beat, etc.)

Midi implementation is decent to excellent - you can easily use this as a controller for external gear as well. No sequencer, which probably wasn't a bad move, as most of us(including me...) will most likely be using sequencing software of somekind via the PC or Mac.

My only gripe in this department is the lack of a slot for a smart media card, which many newer synths are incorporating(Yamaha CS6X, Roland XV, etc.). It's not the end of the world, but it would've been nice.

This synth is the only synth I've yet to see with 6-pole filters, which can make a big difference in the sound, especially if you are going for analog/techno/trance-type sounds.

Splits and layers are possible - and no synth I've ever had lets you adjust whether or not an element just cuts off or gradually fades out as you play across it's determined range on the keyboard.

There are so many other features to this board, that I don't have enough time to properly describe them all(like the 16 simultaneously syncable arpegiators, or the morphing z-plane filters, ....). One feature I really DO like is the ability to generate random patches(another feature not found on many synths, except the SCI Prophet VS(good luck!), or the Yamaha SY22/35).

Did I mention you can also merge several patches into 1? Or hardwire the modulation sources to nearly any desination? If you don't know what this means, they do a pretty good job explaining this in the manual.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
I think that 95% of the sounds on this board sound extremely realistic for this price range. Realism is really subjective, and you have to bear in mind that a cello sound played on a piano keyboard isn't going to sound exactly the same; the phrasing IS going to be different. However, IF you are going to sequence sounds from this board, you will get much better results.

This board comes with a pop/composer soundset, and I think you could easily use this board for rock, pop, or jazz with few problems. This synth has the same engine as the E-MU Proteus 2500, so it's pretty recent. The pianos are decent, and definitely usuable - but what I like even better are the piano blends(piano blended with other waveforms), and I mean more than just the piano/string combo.(but those are there too, since they are pretty standard now, even if you absolutely hate them....). The "glass piano" patch is a good example of this.

Given that this is one of the few synths on the market to sport 6-pole filters, you could probably come up with some really good techno, trance and analog sounds. I haven't tried any of those yet.

Reliability: N/A
The case is entirely plastic. I've yet to take this baby outside my house, but if I did I would be sure to get myself a hard case, or a Kaces III 'porter' gig bag(excellent investment - about $130.00 USD, especially if you don't like carrying heavy items, this is the sturdiest, thickets gig bag I've come across).

The PK-6 weighs about 21 lbs.(9.5 kg), which is going to be far easier on your back than a Triton/Triniy. :)

Customer Support: N/A
I've yet to deal with them personally, but their web site has been very helpful, and you can get a free replacement manual by downloading a .pdf file.

Overall Rating: 8
Overall, I'd have to say that this is one of the best synths I've seen FOR the money. I'm not going to say it's better than a Triton, Motif, XV-5080, or anything else, because everyone's got their own tastes and opinions. However, there are an awful lot of features available in the PK-6, and it won't cost you $2000.00+ USD

I own, or have owned the following:

Yamaha DX7/9/11/100, CS6X, SY35, TG-500
Roland Alpha Juno-1, XV-3080, D-550
Korg Wavestation, DW-8000

I really like the features that this synth has, and I would not hesitate to use it in any film work that I do. You could use this in a variety of applications, and I would definitely use this board live.

Submitted by Keith at 07/05/2002 16:21

Price Paid: US $899

Ease of Use: 9
FIrst off, this is my first decent keyboard. My last one was a casio, so I might be impressed easily. Second, keys are not my primary instrument. The software is version one. The presents sound fantastic. The pianos are very good. The B-3 sounds are absolutely incredible; think Deep Purple, Boston, etc. Editing the patches are simple. Just screwing around with it is usually enough to figure things out. The manual is huge, but is ok quality. It seems hard to look up a specific topic. I can't get the arpegiator to work like it claims in the manual. I can't tell if it's a misdirection or some sort of a bug in the software.

Features: 8
64 voice poyphony, 32mb, 2-24 bit effects processors, 61 keys. Keys are "semi-weighted". They seem a little stiff, but good. I can't imagine what true weighted keys would feel like. There is plenty of resistance. Keys are pressure sensitive of course, and work good. It seems to have all the MIDI requirements, but there is no on-board sequencer. Expansion is available with emu sound modules.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
In my opinion, the sounds are fantastic. Very realistic. The guitars are not natural to me, but being a guitarist I'm probablly more sensative than non guitarists. The strings, piano's, organs, EP's and even horns sound good. This board seems to be designed for all-around use. But if the sound you want isn't there, either editing or adding a sound module will probablly do it for you.

Reliability: 7
I don't think I can accurately analyze this, but it seems like it's built solidly. One of the keys (C# above middle C) has a nasty knock when it's released; almost as if it's missing a piece of felt or something. Also some of the keys have some sharp edges. Maybe it's my technique, but sometimes I feel like it might actually cut mut my finger. The Casio had a softer feel in this regard.

Customer Support: 1
I emailed the company from the support section on thier website regarding the knocking key and arpegiator problem. It's been about two weeks now, and still no reply. It's sad that in a supposed "service oriented society" that service can be so incredibly lame.

Overall Rating: 8
Except for the minor problems mentioned above, I love it. It sounds great and is easy to operate. For the price it's great. To my ears it sounds as good as amything out there. Although I've been playing keys off and on for 35 years, it's still my second instrument. I've worked in a music store, I own a recording studio and come from a family where everyone plays piano. (It was required in our family). I don't think you'll be disappointed with the sounds.

Submitted by Jack Hicks at 07/01/2002 12:21

Price Paid: US $485

Ease of Use: 9
It is really easy to use if you are familiar with E-mu's products. I am an E-mu fan, so it is pretty easy for me and I don't need to read through the manual thoroughly to get start working. Manual is thick and simple and comprehensive !!!!

Features: 10
64 poly. I prefer 128 though. But it is ok since I use other gears for arrangement too. Keyboard action is good compare to the same price range keyboard. I use E-mu normal expansion board and it got an extra board ( ensoniq sounds) which cannot be used for E-mu module (P2K, mo-phatt etc .. but available for the command station). I give it a 10 because editing a sound is so easy. It got 16 jump button which can straight jump to the part that need to edit. The patch cord editing system include aux env, filter env., and 6 stage volume env, 2 LFO, 1 filter with Q and some odd z-plane filter. 200 + 100 user defined arpegiator is available for every single channel. I also like the 4 knobs which can be used to control 16 assignable controller events to tweak the preset parameter. All 16 controller can be patch to whatever parameter you can think of!!!!

Expressiveness/Sounds: 5
sounds is think on bass. The preset is not so good. I almost ended up editing the preset to get what I want in my songs. But with the extra ROM card installed, it is unimaginable of what sounds I can get by combining instruments of different ROM. This sets of ROMs are versatile for any kind of music you can think of.

Reliability: 5
I play the keyboard hard and some black notes makes "tac" sounds when I released it fast. I guess I need to be more gentle with it!!!

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 9
It suits my need.

Submitted by K.C.Lau at 06/27/2002 18:42

Price Paid: US $840

Ease of Use: 7
After getting a feel for how to edit the voices, it's no problem. Going from preset to preset is easy enough, and there's a Category Search function which makes it easier to find the sound you want. The manual is gigantic, but very thorough and easy to understand.

Features: 8
The features of this synth is where it shines. The keyboard is great. Not just the semi-weighted action, but the actual tactile feel of the keys is excellent. Tons of presets (which get repeated in the User bank), and tons of samples to use when making new patches. It has built in effects which really doesn't do much for me, but it's good to know they're there. It's got an insanely flexible arpeggiator. It can be expanded using the many ROM upgrades E-Mu offers. Installing them sounds pretty simple. It's also got 16 buttons on the front panel which can be assigned to any of the internal patches, allowing you to quickly switch between the most used presets--a great feature. Hell, even the somewhat "goofy" appearance in pictures looks good in person.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 3
The sounds are where the synth falls totally flat. Every patch, most noteably the pianos, sounds good either in the low half of the keyboard or the upper half. Nothing sounds good across the board.

This was replacing an ESQ-1 by Ensoniq and I was looking for a few basic sounds that I used the Ensoniq for previously. The first was a digital bell. No sale. All the bell sounds were either spacey, weird, warbly sounds, or actual instrument sounds (like a xylophone). Though I could sort of force the sounds I wanted through editing, it again either sounded good low or high, never both.

The second sound I wanted was a basic, analog synth pad. Nothing doing. I got a great high sound, but the low sound was very thin and sounded almost like an electric guitar patch. Or I got a good, fat low sound and high it sounded hollow and lost its resonance. Terrible.

The last was a synth string sound. Every synth has a good one of those, right? Wrong. The synth string sounds in this had one of two horrible effects: they either swelled in or had a harmony note (5th or octave) above the note you played. This was a part of actual sampled sound, it couldn't be removed by editing the patch.

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 5
I was sorely disappointed with this synth. I really wanted to love it, but I just couldn't. No matter how much I tried (and we're talking days and days of programming) I couldn't get a useable sound out of the thing. I don't know, I guess if you don't need good sounds across the board or like a bunch of weird, New Age sounding stuff this would be right for you. Not for me though. I've returned the synth and will be getting something which will undoubtedly have fewer features, but will at least have one or two sounds that don't make me cringe every time I pass middle C.

Submitted by Dan at 06/10/2002 00:15

Price Paid: US $825

Ease of Use: 8
Just got this board one week ago...without spending two days reading the manual, right out of the box I was able to access the patches..

Just got this board a week ago...without having to spend 3 days
slaving over the manual..I was able to go straight to the presets,scroll
through the banks with no problem. The presets are well thought out,
and sound very clean...Although the manual is pretty thick..it is very
well written...with screen illustrations and simple explanations.

Features: 9
64-note polyphony has always been plenty for me, even with this synth using
up to 4 tones per patch. The effects are not overdone,even when used
in the multiset for sequencing, they hold up well. The PK-6 doesn't
have an on-board sequencer but the playback Jam and built-in Riff
patches are awesome...excellent for practicing solos or scales behind
a nice rhythmic bass, keyboard and drum setup...the action is very smooth.
Emu provides expansion through their ROM packs, featuring a wide selection
of sounds fit for every genre....the unit also features 16 syncable
arppegiators...nice! A few knobs enable you to edit the patches..LFO's,
Frequency cutoffs,etc.

Expressiveness/Sounds: 8
From a recording and sequencing standpoint, The PK6 stands right with
the Roland XP series and Korgs Trinity...I gave up a Roland RS9 for this
synth...the sounds are quite usable...Organs..not to versatile, guitars..
adequate...plenty of Basses, both synth and electric...Pianos are very nice,
the electric pianos quite sensitive and with the mod wheel a touch of
vibrato for that "70's Fender Rhodes" sound is there. Drums, lots of thick
kits for every style, however the toms of sound of the acoustic kits
sound sort of unrealistic. Excellent vintage synths, strings...on
the down side the brass patches may be the weakest link...but placed
correctly in a sequence or live situation they could suffice. I do
jazz, pop/r&b, and originals this board got chosen over a TrinityPlus
and an XP50...simply because the architecture of the entire board
seem to fit the ol'school/ contemporary flavor that I still love.

Reliability: 9
I haven't gigged with it yet, but I think it's going to do well with
the jazz/funk/pop that my band plays. I rarely need a backup board..
since i do what I need to to protect my keys.

Customer Support: N/A
Haven't had to deal with any..............yet!

Overall Rating: 10
If It were lost or stolen..I think I buy it again..simply because it
feels good and sounds like what I need. In my modest home studio...I wanted
a board that I could write and record with, without the presets sounding
"cheezy". I used to own an Alesis QS6, the PK6 reminds me a lot of that
synth, very light but thick when it needs to be..I think the design
could have been a little less "artsy"...As a songwriter, I needed a
decent synth that was inspiring and interesting to play...the PK6 does
the job for me...over 1000 sounds for under $900 bucks...what can I
say...good to the ear,easy on the wallet....makes for a great unit!

Submitted by Anonymous at 04/03/2002 10:23

Price Paid: US $899

Ease of Use: 8
The new software on the machine. The patch editing is the best the sounds are great. Was thinking about getting trition for sounds but was sold on these after listening. The manaul is good, pretty thick.

Features: 10
128 poly the keyboard action is very good, semi weighted and alot better than that on the triton le. many effects on this thing. Bought the pure phatt rom card for it, installed with no problem and the sounds are banging. emu has a lot of expnaison boards. No on board sequencer for recording just one for play back

Expressiveness/Sounds: 10
Sounds, all i can say is off the hook. good for hip hop, r&B and pop

Reliability: 9
Just got it so it works for now

Customer Support: N/A
haven't dealt with them

Overall Rating: 10
If it was lost I'd beat the thief with the left over cables. it is worth the price i paid

Submitted by Demetris at 03/28/2002 15:16