Recommend me a keyboard/synth for piano lessons.

[MyUsername]

So I have a years worth of piano lessons lined up starting next friday. I want to do this because I want to get more comfortable with coming up with my own melodies when producing and music theory.

The teacher recommends I buy this:
http://www.thomann.de/be/yamaha_psr_e243_set.htm
It has MIDI out for PC and iOS but not for Mac (is that even possible ?) and I have a MBP

But thought it 'd be more fun to get an actual synth like a MicroKorg or MiniBrute (I think these have aftertouch)
But maybe they don't have enough octaves...
Or at least get something that 'd be fun to use with ableton or something.


What would recommend ? (search on the forum wasn't much help)
The music school that I go to is pretty alternative and loose, and we are really free in the music we want to play.

[makar1]

You want something more like this for actual piano lessons:
http://www.thomann.de/be/yamaha_p35_b.htm

MIDI is not OS specific so any MIDI keyboard will work on Mac as well as Windows.

[mdcdesign]

You want something more like this for actual piano lessons:
http://www.thomann.de/be/yamaha_p35_b.htm

MIDI is not OS specific so any MIDI keyboard will work on Mac as well as Windows.

Agreed, you want a hammer-action fully weighted master keyboard for learning the piano. Traditional "keyboards" won't prepare you for using a piano and vice-versa. You can get second hand ones pretty reasonably provided you don't mind collecting them or having them couriered for about €150; you could even - if you've got the money - get something like the 88-key Korg Triton or Trinity, which combine a master keyboard with a pretty incredible prosynth.

[MyUsername]

Yeah they aren't piano lessons per se. The teacher is a multi-instrumentalist and he asked do you want to go the piano route or the keyboard route or both ? And I said keyboard for the most part.

But I'm not entirely sure if I need to bring my instrument to the school all the time. They have digital pianos and keyboards at the school, but I assume it is encouraged to practice on one particular instrument.

[MyUsername]

You want something more like this for actual piano lessons:
http://www.thomann.de/be/yamaha_p35_b.htm

MIDI is not OS specific so any MIDI keyboard will work on Mac as well as Windows.

Yes I tought so, but it's weird that they mentioned PC and iOS in the promo vid and not Mac, also the site has drivers for iOS and PC, but then again it's quite likely that Mac does not require MIDI drivers

[ImNotDedYet]

The keyboard recommended isn't a full keyboard either. Personally, I'd go with makar recommended. You can always get a small midi controller later for production and midi capabilities. As a piano player myself who took years of lessons and taught for a couple of years, weighted keys are absolutely huge in my book. You want to be able to become expressive with each keypress as you get better and understand the music better. I have a keyboard that I use for production, but when it comes to "just playing" I play on my piano and always felt the keyboard was lacking.

Your other option obviously is to go the keyboard route now and get a full weighted key piece later, but I think learning with the weighted keys from the get go is the better option.

[031999]

Im not a fan of fully weighted, but if you wanna do that than get this.

It is definitly a powerhouse, and will serve your production needs, for a long time, also weighted, hammer action keys.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Akai-Pro...id^13625727881