I'd like to buy a keyboard, partly for input, partly to learn some keyboard skills, and partly to make interesting sounds with (although that's the lesser requirement). It must have full size keys, velocity and a reasonable touch - but not necessarily a full set of octaves.

I'm considering getting a Korg M1. I know it's a vintage item, but it seems to get a lot of enthusiastic support and they are quite cheap on eBay (around £250 ish).

Any advice?

Rob

If you're just learning, the M1 would be a decent choice. You might also want to consider an E-MU Emax II. You can usually find one on Ebay for about $200US, or even on Ebay.co.uk for a bit less (depending on the current conversion rate). You may even want to look at the Ensoniq ASR-10, also on Ebay.co.uk.

The added benefit with the Emax II or ASR-10 is that you can have all the Korg M1 sounds in a jiff, as both have full sampling capability.

ASR-10 is a bit more expensive, but it's a much more modern unit. However, for nostalgia's sake, the Emax II was used on TONS of music from the early 90's on.

Or you could just get Reason and any old controller keyboard. As long as you have MIDI, Reason can (in my amateur 'click-pop-bang-damnit-that-isnt-music' opinion) beat most dedicated synth/sampler systems hands down.

Much less expensive, too!