For decades upon decades professional keyboardists have been using the Yamaha keyboard to get exactly the type of sound they want. Many of them grew up on Yamahas and have never left - simply because there's no reason to leave what is working for you.
More recently this fine Japanese company has kept up with the changing times. As music has become more and more interwoven with the computer world, we have seen the Yamaha keyboard become more and more intertwined as well. Where they used to just have a couple different synthesizer models, now they have a ton. They also support many different applications, including MIDI and exporting directly into online recording programs. This is truly a company that knows where the present (and future) of the music recording business is going.
It is suggested that if you are new to piano and keyboard, you should start out with a 61 key keyboard. This will keep things a lot simpler. A new person just doesn't need to use 88 keys. It's much more important that they learn some of the more fundamental aspects of the genre. In terms of the Yamaha keyboards, you can look at their YPT and PSR models if you fall into this category. What they lack in number of keys they certainly make up for in number of voices. This means that you'll be able to make hundreds (if not thousands) of different sounds. You can add effects and really learn to gain control of whatever type of music you are putting out through the instrument. (And you'll have a ball of fun while doing so!)
