I know, keys aren’t made from ivory anymore. Anyway...I just picked up a M-Audio Keystation 49e at the Apple Store. It’s awesome. It was $80 after $20 mail-in rebate. A pretty good deal. I had my head set on the 61-key version. After seeing it, I realized that it was just a little too big for what I was looking for. I’m no maestro, so for the extra money, I thought it was just overkill. The 49 key version is more than enough.

No power supply needed! Just plug the supplied USB cable into the Mac, pop open GarageBand and you’re good to go. You can play any MIDI instrument that GarageBand has. It’s awesome. I found the “musical typing” approach too difficult. It’s OK for simple sound effects and the like, but you can’t play anything effectively one note at a time. The Keystation 49e is the answer.







I also picked up some Piano books for idiots/dummies. I hope that can give me a good foundation and understanding to help me learn to play the Piano/keyboard. Wish me luck.