You could write a book about all the info you need ;-)

1. My choices:
Yamaha s80, roland xv88, alesis qs8.1, korg N1
Kurzweil is overpriced (eventhough I own one.. ;-)

I'd go for the s80 for best bang for buck. Depends on your price range. The xv piano expansion board for the xv88 has a gorgeous piano sound. Kurzweil is complex as hell to program and use.

2. You have to narrow down your options. You need a good sequencer with audio capabilities
a. Hardware sequencer
Many to choose from, and I'm not too familiar
b. Software sequencers
i. PC - cakewalk
ii. MAC - Cubase, Logic, Digital Performer.


Software sequencers give you the most flexibility , allowing midi editing, recording audio etc. You can go nuts with plug ins and software synths as you get familiar, and also patch editor/librarians.

3. Get a good pair of studio monitors and a mixer with line level inputs (stereo) and mic level inputs (mono). It allow mixing the audio output of the synths, cd players, microphone/sax.

Tascam, behringer, Mackie make good entry level mixers

Alesis, Event, Yamaha, Mackie and others make good monitors

4. All above, then
a. Midi interface to hookup synths to PC
b. Audio interface to record mixer output to PC. Again you can also go for a hardware model vs a card for the pc.

Check out the postings at audioforums.com . We discuss this type of info all the time.

[This message has been edited by RodS (edited 10-12-2000).]