Newbie to Keyboards .. Should I take music lessons on M 50 ?

stringer.6 · Post by **stringer.6** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:51 pm

Hello fellow members ...

This is my first post on this forum ...

Actually I am a Newbie to keyboards/ Piano ... I will be taking music classes soon , so I thought I would invest in a M 50 to learn { and practice} on ,and also because I can use it at home with my laptop and also at music class ,

Do you guys think its ok to learn keyboard On this machine ???

Elders pls advice ...

Thanx in advance ...

kontroller4938 · Post by **kontroller4938** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 12:51 am

Yes, its piano sounds are very nice.....You may want to get the 73 key or 88 key version though......ask your instructor how many keys he or she recommends. You could save quite a bit with the 61 note version.

There is one catch......If your instructor teaches you on a real piano, the 61 and 73 note versions of the M50 wont have the same feel although they will sound good.

The 88 key version is hammer action like a real piano and if you can afford it go with that. Its beautiful and at American Musical Supply you can pay for it in 5 monthly payments and get the keyboard in a week, along with a set of sennheiser hd280 professional studio headphones. They give you the gear way before your done paying.

Here is the link

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-KOR-M5088-LIST

somnambulist · Post by **somnambulist** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 2:47 pm

I may be inthe minority here, but I would advise caution. The M50 and other workstations are not built for beginners. This is not to say that a beginner can not use one and learn, I very much encourage that kind of enthusiam, its just that if you are truly a rookie to piano and music in general, I would suggest an easier keyboard for this first stage. The only way I would recommend the M50 is if you are an experienced musician on another instrument, or a seasoned music device tinkerer, and versed in synth knowledge and electronic music. Learning that at the same time you need to focus on finger dexterity, notes, chords, keys, scales, etc. might get frustrating.

But that said, who knows? Maybe you are the kind of person to dive in and learn and can really grow into the instrument. That would be awesome!! I'm only trying to get you to think this through and possibly keep you from an expensive mistake.

So what instead? Well if you are truly just starting out, there is something to be said for the Yamaha PSR range for starters. I've played some of those and they are great for getting started and not so hard on the wallet. A lot of them have learning aides on them as well. Korg doesn't really have many entry level keyboards. A higher in Casio might even be good (some of them are getting pretty nice) but I've always been suspicious of the keybed on those. If you need more realistic keys then the Yamaha YPG line is really good. There are lots of Digitial Pianos these days and they are generally very good. Korg even has one of these: the SP250. I have the RH3 keybed on my M50-88 and it is fantastic.

So please don't think I'm advising against the M50, I'm not, I just think you need to understand what you are buying. Make the decision that matches best what you need right now and where you want to go int he future. That may or may not be the M50, but if its not, may as well save the money

jerryv · Post by **jerryv** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:00 pm

An M50-88 has a feel which is very close to a 'real' piano, so it's certainly a great choice. It also offers a wide variety of sounds and the ability to tweak them like crazy. But Somnambulist makes a good point .. it may be more than you need. It really comes down to what your goals are and where you're planning to go with your developing musical skills on keyboard. It also depends somewhat on how much money you've got laying around.

So .. to answer your original question ... the M50 would be a great instrument on which to learn keyboard .. but there are much cheaper ways to do so ..

mocando · Post by **mocando** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:01 pm

I think there is a very valid advise by somnambulist.

I used to take organ lessons back in the 70s. I thought I where not going to remember anything, so I REstarted last year with a Yamaha PSR-E313. Very soon I realized it was just too little for what I was looking for and then upgraded to a Korg PA50. Then I needed more sound design capabilities, and was not very thrilled at the whole arranger/styles/rithms one-man-band kind of thing and sold it for a M50. Now I feel like fish in a pond.

But it was after I passed through the whole road is that I now feel confident to handle a workstation.

What you might avoid by not going straight to the M50 is a lot of frustration, since Workstations lingo can be (and is) very intimidating to the newcomer. For a seasoned musician is just another way of doing things.

If you want to have a glimpse of what might expect you, download the Manual and Parameter guide from Korg.com. I always download the manual of everything I'm thinking of buying prior to the actual buy, so I can have an idea of what I might encounter.

Let us know so we can be of more help.

Cheers

Dapunk · Post by **Dapunk** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:23 pm

Workstations are fine for learning, but you can easily get distracted by all the sounds and nice effects you can achieve early, and they tend to colour your music learning a bit.

You need a lot of discipline, you need to not use these features of the M50, but stick to only the piano patches. You could easily be led astray by the appeg or Karma.

D.

kikedeolivos · Post by **kikedeolivos** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:39 am

somnambulist wrote:I may be inthe minority here, but I would advise caution. The M50 and other workstations are not built for beginners. This is not to say that a beginner can not use one and learn, I very much encourage that kind of enthusiam, its just that if you are truly a rookie to piano and music in general, I would suggest an easier keyboard for this first stage. The only way I would recommend the M50 is if you are an experienced musician on another instrument, or a seasoned music device tinkerer, and versed in synth knowledge and electronic music. Learning that at the same time you need to focus on finger dexterity, notes, chords, keys, scales, etc. might get frustrating.

But that said, who knows? Maybe you are the kind of person to dive in and learn and can really grow into the instrument. That would be awesome!! I'm only trying to get you to think this through and possibly keep you from an expensive mistake.

So what instead? Well if you are truly just starting out, there is something to be said for the Yamaha PSR range for starters. I've played some of those and they are great for getting started and not so hard on the wallet. A lot of them have learning aides on them as well. Korg doesn't really have many entry level keyboards. A higher in Casio might even be good (some of them are getting pretty nice) but I've always been suspicious of the keybed on those. If you need more realistic keys then the Yamaha YPG line is really good. There are lots of Digitial Pianos these days and they are generally very good. Korg even has one of these: the SP250. I have the RH3 keybed on my M50-88 and it is fantastic.

So please don't think I'm advising against the M50, I'm not, I just think you need to understand what you are buying. Make the decision that matches best what you need right now and where you want to go int he future. That may or may not be the M50, but if its not, may as well save the money

Excellent advice.

newtonlkh · Post by **newtonlkh** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 4:24 am

here is about my personal experience:

I have a M50 and know no keyboard (I know guitar though),
I figured out all chords on a keyboard (Am, Bbm, Bm... A, Bb, B... )
and I have a happy time with my M50-61.

Now I am missing M3 because of being able to import waves to the osc.

what is M50 to you?? what do you use it for?