Beginner Platform: PIC or 8051?

For the pros out there...if someone is new to microcontrollers and programming and plans to eventually get to the point where they're doing the majority of their work with the 8051 family of uC's, would you recommend they start with the PIC family and gradually get into the 8051 family, or just jump into the 8051 family of microcontrollers?

The 8051 is pretty much only still used in India.

It's also used in pretty much every MIDI device I've personally encountered, which is why I'm planning to get into the 8051 family. They actually use an 8031 because with the off chip ROM they're easier to repurpose/revise via swapping the EPROM chip with different software on it.

Since you have a specific requirement then I'd recommend you stay with the 8051 tool suite. I think Keil is a popular IDE for the 8051.
That said the MIDI interface is just an opto isolated serial port at 31,250 baud. Almost any microcontroller with a UART would work.

Jon Wilder said:

It's also used in pretty much every MIDI device I've personally encountered, which is why I'm planning to get into the 8051 family. They actually use an 8031 because with the off chip ROM they're easier to repurpose/revise via swapping the EPROM chip with different software on it.

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Like Bill said, they only seem to be used out India way (presumably because the colleges never upgraded?) - if Midi devices are still using them it's likely it's because they originated out there and are probably very old designs.

But if you have a specific reason for wanting to use the old 8051 devices, then it makes obvious sense to learn that from the beginning - no point learning a different one and then moving.

Most modern micro controllers can be programmed without removing chips. PIC use ICSP and others use JTAG. These allow programming, and run control without using a serial port.