Gary,

I guess I should better state my needs.

I am not a professional musician. I am a piano and guitar player, and I play for my own enjoyment. This will not be a mobile set up. If Vista is a problem that will end up costing me more money, I have an XP Home workstation I can use instead.

My main goal here is to learn the ins and outs of MIDI, and to work on my composition ambitions. I'm on a budget -- times are tough. I've got $140 worth of Amazon gift certificates. This is why I was looking at the M-Audio offerings. I'm still confused at the difference between the KeyRig and the Oxygen and Axiom lines. I'm looking for a FAQ or tutorial that will help me differentiate the options.

I anticipate I can upgrade to something better in a few months. But for now, I'm looking for a starter set to go with my XP workstation and BIAB 2006. The XP setup sounds like the path with the least resistance. I want to make good sounds, but it doesn't have to be top notch at this point. Just enough to get me up the learning curve. I want to learn BIAB and MIDI, and I want a keyboard controller for under $150 that will help me to achieve my goals.

What do you think?

Thanks!

Greg