Dear musical hivemind

[prog]

The other day I was drinkin coffee somwheres on Mass Avewith doctor_atomic and I said (if I may compress time a bit), "When I was a kid I tried to learn music but I was too dumb to appreciate it. I bet I am smart enough to learn music now. I want to learn music. I MUST OBTAIN A KEYBOARD IMMEDIATELY." The doctor said, "OK, let's go." But the music store was closed, thankfully, so thankfully I am not saddled with any impulse-bought clunkers. I still want a keyboard, though, something I can use with my Mac.

Any recommendations for either hardware, or places to visit? I know nothing at all of music theory (beyond vague memories of trombone practice in 4th grade) and just want to plink around, and a keyboard seems like it would be the funnest instrument, especially since it offers the most obvious computer interface. Valid cross-recommendations include "I know both you and $INSTRUMENT well enough to know that you'd probably enjoy $INSTRUMENT more", and "I know you well enough to know that anything you get would be a waste of money that you'd shelve and ignore" but I retain the right to get all upset and try to prove you wrong in the latter case, probably.

Comments

[queue.livejournal.com]

It would probably be worthwhile to borrow a keyboard from someone first, to see how you like using it and also if your interest holds beyond the ooh-shiny phase.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is good advice.

[cnoocy]

I'd loan you mine if you'd help me get it connected to my computer when it returned.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Reeeeeally? If you have a Mac, then it's a deal...

[mrmorse.livejournal.com]

If you feel compelled to buy rather than borrow, go cheap. The features you want probably include MIDI, full sized keys, (keyboards with tiny keys suck. A lot.) and velocity sensitive keys (the harder you play the note, the louder it gets). You can get any number of keyboards for a few hundred dollars that do all of those.

More expensive keyboards have whiz-bang features that are admittedly whiz-bangy, but that you won't even be able to tell if you want until you get some experience with the basics.