INTRODUCTION:
Hello. My name is Chris Anderson. I live in far Western Kentucky (US). Born in 1968, I became musically aware in 1979 when I first heard Gary Numan's 'Cars'. I have been a staunch fan of his music ever since. I guess you could say my musical "influence" stems from the 80's, although I am a big Beatles fan, as well as Queen, Bluegrass (I dabble in the banjo), and lately Jazz, Zydeco, and Cajun tunes. Just got back from a Thomas Dolby concert in New Orleans, and I love his new style. It would seem my brother got the music gene, and has played professionally since the seventies. Even his son is involved in several support bands. Me, I started playing air-keyboards in the early 80's, and made the jump to steering wheel keyboards in about 1987, and consider myself a prodigy (I can pursuit drive and play with both hands 
). Alas, my gift of the arts seems to lay in nature and celestial photography, not music.
I dabbled with some tiny/cheap synthesizers decades ago, but just didn't seem to have an ear for music. And, of course, I was pretty much just playing around. Banjo was easy, but I still felt like I had the mechanics down, but not the 'feel'.
RECENT EVENTS:
Well, I'm 44 now, have a special needs son that I am taking care of, and plan on retiring from a 20 year career with the State Police early next year in order to take care of him. My wife tragically died last November. In an effort to pass some time and start scratching things off my bucket list, I impulse-purchased a used Virus T1 61 key synth last week. It has yet to arrive. I bought some kind of "keyboards for dummies" book from Amazon, and have downloaded-to-read everything I can get on the model.
I have no aspirations for playing in a playing in a band, or recording, I'd just be happy being able to hammer out a few Numanesque tunes here in the living room. A hobby so to speak. I've watched a lot of Youtube vids of people playing His songs on various keyboards, and (I already knew this) it seems most of His songs can be played pretty much with one finger on each hand. 
What I want to do is make a 'study' of, say, Numan's The Pleasure Principle. That should keep me busy...
QUESTIONS:
Am I out of touch thinking I can just tinker and practice and figure this out? Or do I need basic lessons? I notice the keys seems to be pretty much two colors, and no numbers or letters attached to them, so "by the numbers" is out right 
. Some sarcasm there.
I understand you can play the device through headphones, but what sort of Virus~PC interface am I looking for? I have a Win7 system that puts NASA to shame, but I am not sure how I can play the unit through my existing PC speaker/sub system. I am sure I will figure a lot of this out when it arrives, but thought I'd toss some of this out there. Do I need a special card, or just a cord into the mic jack? Someone said Audacity?
What other "toys" might I look forward to later on? I am simply dumb when it comes to understanding all this. Usually, I print reams and reams of info before I jump into a project, so this impulse buy is uncharacteristic. But with a ton of life insurance payout, it didn't hurt, and if I don't "get it" I can always sell it to a musician later on.
Well, that's my story. Thanks to all!
CG
http://www.pbase.com/darklightimagery
PS: How do you turn the T1 on? 