Seeking advice for soundcard purchase

[capntao]

Hi, everyone! I'm new here, and pretty much new to music recording, although I've messed with it a bit at one of my friends houses... He, however, has a mac and LOADS of pirated software.... I, on the other hand, am building a pc, and would prefer to use freeware or at least (fairly) inexpensive software. My question here, however, is this: What audio card should I get for my new pc? What software is used well with this card? What else should I get to get me started for midi with a keyboard, and recording of electric instruments and audio? What do you use? I'm sure everyone will have varying opinions on these topics, but I would love to hear from everyone who's interested as to what they are using, what they would LIKE to be using, associated prices, and most importantly, results from the hardware and software's uses. If possible, if anyone who replys has mp3's or something available for download, I would love to check out the results you are getting with the equipment you are using! Thanks!

 

[bbop73]

For electronic music, any of the following should get you started: Sonar 2/3 or Cubase vst/sx, Propellerhead Reason, and maybe a few soft synths such as NI kontakt, reaktor, pro-53, and fm-7. I use an oxygen midi keyboard and akai mpd16 for triggering the synths and drum samplers. If you're only "in the box" then reason would be a good stand alone package.