let's start with equipments...
As someone who's now... somewhat intermediate in computer recordings... or ... maybe still in the beginning...
I was asking questions kinda like yours... though i did know somewhat more than you did. =)
But by all means, I want to be of help.
First, equipment wise...
You have a pc.. obviously... what are the specs?
Usually... ram of over 32meg... 64better... pent 2 or higher... should have no problem...
As for soundcards, I completely recommend Soundblaster Live! series... I own a SB live! Platinum, which is by far the best beauty in the soundcard arena right now...
It's a bit costly, but not really... paying around $200...
It's got front mounting bay... so so much more conveinient. (to connect midi DIN cables (5pin stuff connecting synthesizer to cpu) , headphone jack, mic jack... etc)
And to use soundcard w/o soundfont would be a fool's act...
luckily we got loads of soundfont available to us for free, on
http://www.hammersound.com . I downloaded quite a lot... and a lot of them are good.
And what kind of music are you going to do?
Are you gonna play instrument into cpu? or what?
I am a pianist and a musician... i record all different instruments using my keyboard... very efficient... since i do not have to place a note by note by mouse clicks... thas a pain.. but still doable with "copy+paste" option available in any multitrack recording programs such as cakewalk pro audio.
Ask me if you have more questions... on basic starting stuff, I can be of help.
have fun sail!
eric