The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

I would advise checking out the keyboard section of your local music 
store, such as Guitar Center. Play around with their demo units and 
see what fits best. If you're after a decent piano sound and 
realistic sounding instruments, then a sample-playback type synth 
would work best. Alesis QS6.2 and Roland Juno D are examples of 5-
octave sample-playback keyboards under $600. An 88 note keyboard with 
weighted piano-type action, such as Alesis QS8.2 or Yamaha S08, is 
closer to $1000. The An1x is a VA (virtual analog) designed to sound 
like older analog synths. VA's have a good classic synth sound  but 
no realistic piano or orchestra type instruments.  Most synths are 
fairly easy to learn to operate. Workstations such as Korg Triton, 
Yamaha Motif, Roland Fantom, have a much steeper learning curve and 
are rather expensive.