Looking For A Start In Music, Just ordered a new iMac G5 Options

[enygma]

Hi, I am kinda new to what is available in the world of the Mac. I have ordered a new iMac G5 computer with 512MB of RAM and started looking at Garage Band. I wanted to talk to my uncle regarding things having to do with music as he used a Mac to create the songs for all his albums using Digital Performer (not sure of the version). However, I am looking at Garage Band and Logic as possible options, but I am not sure where to start, or what equipment I would need, or how it all works. I used to do music tracking on my old 486 PC in DOS with Impulse Tracker 2.14, and I am wanting to get back into music.

What do I need to know to head in the right direction? What do I need to use? What is the differences between programs like Garage Band, Digital Performer and Logic?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[enygma]

Ok, I am looking to play around and doo all types of music. Basically, I am just wanting to try and develop a talent. I have music going through my head alot. Everything from orchestrated music to electronic compositions, with a bit in between like rock or hip hop or whatever.

So these are the inputs I will have on my iMac G5:

Audio in
Audio Out
Video Out
3 USB
2 Firewire
56k
ethernet

My brother has an electric guitar, if I wanted to record some chords from his guitar, how would I go about doing that? Is it possible to lay down 1 track with the guitar in a certain distortion, and lay down another track as an accoustic with any of these programs? How are these programs for orchestrated music?

For insturments and equipment, what separates one USB-MIDI keyboard from another if I am laying down tracks through the software?

If I am using a second drive, would an external Firewire drive do since there is no room for a second hard drive in the iMac G5?

I am new to getting more into the perfessional end of audio, so I don't fully understand what some of this equipment is or what it is used for, other than a MIDI keyboard and anything to do with computer hardware. As for software, I personally come from a technical background and mainly do work in 3D modelling and animation, as well as video editing. The main application I use is Maya. It is a higher end 3D application and can get very technical when it comes to creating shaders and scrips, so I am used to getting technical into things. With this kind of mind set, would it make sense to give Logic Express 7 a shot as it is much cheaper than Pro? If there is a larger learning curve to Logic than these other programs, is it also capable of doing some things that other sequencers can't? For example, in Maya, as a 3D package, it has a fairly hard learning curve to it, but if you get right into the software, learn the scripting and more advanced features, you can create automated animation scripts, croud simulation, shaders that react differently depending on the angle it is viewed at or the ammount of light touching it, or even change the entire interface, which is something alot of other 3D packages are unable to do.

I'm not sure if I have any other questions at the moment, but if I have any more, I won't hesitate to ask. Like I said, I have only been used to using free tracking software for making electronic music before and I feel that now that I am getting this iMac, I might as well step it up a notch.