Hi there all, first post here so be gentle...LOL.
I have just started into this and making such decisions. I tried a few of the demos like reaper and anvil and you can download these and try things out to get a feel for them I think some of it is in how you expect to work and what you are working towards...is it more of a midi thing, beat oriented, loops, synths...or perhaps more towards audio....or a mix of all. I had a version of Cakewalk before and then Sonar LE with
my UA-25 but just got a new computer capable of some serious work i7 with 12MB ram...so a huge leap from a P4...LOL....so computer power is also something to consider as well. I do have a BR-600 but really, the visual side of DAW's is so much better, I've used Audacity for some basic things in the past, free and I suspect may still have it's uses.
For ease of use and some other features, I have chosen Mixcraft 5. Billed as the "garage band for the PC" I was impressed by the ease of use interface and the video editing capabilities, integrated midi and audo tracking and general feel of it. Not too expensive either considering...I even sprang for the "pro" version plus the "beatcraft" easy basic drum machine as a starting platform, in part for the sampled steinway...but they have a nice "musician's bundle" with the full DAW plus Beatcraft for under $100 and for what I am hoping to do that may include video, I thought this to be a good starting platform and been getting around it ok. The demo of course is free, so may as well try out a few and see what you and your system likes.
Time to learn these things...well even with some experience with Midi and the days of tape and a bit of previous education....there is a lot to learn. Reading a book or articles and plenty of YouTube vids (Mixcraft has made a heap of these tutorials so check them out under Acoustica22 or similar on YT) for most DAWS in popular use.
Lest I be considered a "mixcraft fanboy" before I've even started, I was impressed with all of them really. Most are doing similar things, some can do a lot in terms of routing and such but that depends a lot on what you want to do with it and your computer can handle I suspect as well as your own patience to learn as you go...I've put in a few
days already getting a feel for everything and reading up and checking things out.
As well as computer power, and what kind of ambitions you are aiming for...you will likely need some outboard gear, a midi/audio interface is fairly essential. I've had an edirol UA-25 for instance for some years now, so I am glad I held onto it and a nice enough USB interface. Cant afford much in the way of 'monitors', the sound from my computer is decent, the sound out from the UA-25 to a small Hi-Fi (what it's basically been used for with the last machine) ok but coloured of course and a decent set of headphones. When considering costs of hardware compared to the costs of software, things blow out pretty quickly...a decent mic is likely going to cost more than most DAWs whatever you choose, interface, midi controller perhaps, cables, monitoring (making a wish list here) is going to start adding up. A lot of people have computers powerful enough to run such things, till now I didn't...but there is almost $2K right there! (although you might not need to go that far really). Oh...and an external hard drive is already looking like a necessity, I have USB 3.0 so have added that also to my 'wish list'. In the early stages I'll make do with something like Beatcraft but I can see wanting something like EZ Drummer perhaps for a better interface, sounds and midi editing...so there is something that costs more than the DAW there too!
So...in summary, as a newbie and a guitar player (though with a music degree from the early 80's and some technology in there), I have spent a few weeks on this very question and tried a few out from demos, Reaper came highly recommended and is cost effective, I may keep both...but for ease of use, great support and tutorials, fairly intuitive interface, video and basic notation support and a nice range of effects (including a decent amp simulator included for guitar "shredmaster") and virtual instruments I went Mixcraft 5 at this stage.
As for learning these things, you don't want to be too confused by the interface but there is a lot to get your head around, fortunately though daunting at first, it soon gives way exciting thing to play with that you want to learn and find out ever more, and worth the effort if it even feels like 'work' at all. The more you put in, the more you will get out...as with most things. I'm treating it both as a fancy tape recorder and a whole new 'instrument' to learn in of itself...
Not sure if you mean money is or isn't an issue....consider the hardware side and what you have to work with there, but there is a tone of amazing free stuff and working demos out there and a lot of stuff really costs very little considering what they can do...I mean, a perfectly miked and sample grand, great hammond and rhoades (untill recently I ahd a real one taking up space!) and many great synths, all those compressors and such....imagine what that would have cost only a few years back and where this technology is heading. If you are a keyboard player or want to work entirely within the machine...I dare say you could find something to get started on with very little at all...but if you want to use real instruments, midi controllers or vocals...well things will add up on that side far more than the recording software you might choose for now.
Not sure what others may think of my personal decision on Mixcraft 5, but whatever works and feels good, is within budget and will do the things you want is a good place to start, eh?
), but also makes a professional mix. Money isn't really an option, so could anyone give me some advice? Im fairly new to this and really want to explore home recording, but as I said before, money isn't an issue 
. Which one would you recommend then disregarding the learning curve?
thanks Guys Ill give it a try 
