A little Help?

[KillRoy Ver 3.0]

I'm fairly green a getting into this home recording thing and I'm looking for a little advice on setup for digital (computer).

I have an Athlon XP 2000, 256mb pc133 RAM, 60 gb 7200rpm HD, 8 gb 5600rmp HD, SoundBlaster Live card and am running WinME. For programs I have access to Cool Edit Pro, Cakewalk Home Studio and ProTools (free version). I'm looking at mostly demoing my own songs (vocals, guitar, bass) and maybe eventually get into midi and sequencing.

If anyone can give me some ideas of what else I should be looking at to add on it would be appreciated. Also I'm not really looking at any real kind of budget right now so gear reccomendations from entry-level to the good shit is alright.

Also I'm looking for a good Drum loops/machine based programs for doing the drums with. Ones that cover off your basic loops up to where you can program your own. If you could let me know some good ones to look into that would be great.

Thanx for your time guys.

[cstockdale]

More RAM (512 is a good start)

A better soundcard: M Audio Audiophile 2496 is a great place to start, it will give you two inputs, or four if you have an external AD converter. Delta 66 if you want more inputs (4 analog, two digital).

I would go for a higher end software platform, Sonar 3.0 or Cubase SX, then you get all your sequencing needs/samplers etc, good plugins

Win XP would be much better than ME... far more support for XP

I just upgraded my video card to a dual monitor support card and added a second monitor: let me tell you, having two 19" monitors side by side is one of the best changes I have had!

Then there is the outboard hardware world: preamps, mics, mixers etc etc.

[charlesthegreat]

if you upgrade to windows xp you cant use protools free, which may be good news or bad news depending on your view. a lot more ram would be wise, and a better soundcard. cool edit pro is easy and works well, so i dont think you'll need any higher-end software. fruiyloops is probably the best choice for the drum loops, its real easy to learn and gets very addicting. if you dont have any mics then i would get a shure 57 for its versatility. if you arent on a budget, then get a nice condensor mic like a MXLV67G which is about 100 bucks, and is very good for vocals and acoustic guitar, then get a nice preamp to power your condenser mic, and youre basically set.

[KillRoy Ver 3.0]

Thanx alot for some of the tips, I'll look into it.