cakewalk and aardvark or console and program?

[KALYXX]

hi! my question is about what would be the best way for me to go in terms of pc recording. i am totally new to this and i understand some things, but am confused about others, namely this question: you say on your site that you use cakewalk and and aardvark audio panel for your recording. does this allow you when you are recording, to monitor how your sound is coming into your hard drive, or can you do once it is in your hard drive with cakewalk? (i.e. control how your instruments are coming into the computer) my other question is what is the difference between cakewalk and aardvark, and say, an outside console and another program, such as protools or paris? im looking to start recording digitally and am somewhat confused by all of this. at first i thought that it would be possible to record digitally onto my hard drive using an outside console, an audio card and a computer program such as the ones mentions above. (protools, paris, cakewalk..etc) is that possible?? are there any other things i would need if i were to get if this is possible? thanks for any answers!

[Shinobi9]

I tried to record using my computer for a while and it is possible to change the way your instrument sound before it enters your hard drive, and depending on which program you are using you will be able to alter the sound while it's on your hard drive. I've used the shareware version of cakewalk in the past and have found it pretty fun to work with.