What Software/hardware To Buy, iMac based home demo recording system Options

[Stevie]

I am singer/songwriter looking for a simple, good quality, inexpensive (in that order) home demo recording system.
 
I would like to use my one year old iMac 17 to record demos to:
 
1)  Put on my website.
 
2)  Send to booking agents.
 
3)  Eventually, use as guides for making commercial quality studio recordings.
 
Requirements:
 
1)  It must record guitar and vocals. 
 
2)  The system must have reasonable quality echo, delay, eq and other effects
 
3)  If possible, I would like to use drum samples from the recording/sequencing program, but if that turns into a problem, I can use my drum machine on two of the tracks. 
 
4)  If possible, I would like to use my guitar as a bass, in other words, record a single note guitar track then cut the frequency in half. 
 
5)  If the system comes with piano, synthesizer, horn or other samples, so much the better.
 
What do you recommend?
 
If I wanted to do commercial quality, what would the price/ease-of-use penalty be?
 
Steve

[xingu]

I guess the Gold Productiion Pack (or whatever it's called) is a bit above your budget. "Logic 6" covers all three versions - did you check'em out to see if Audio is enough to suit your needs? Assuming this, you'll have to buy your audio interface (we don't call them soundcards in these parts - no offense to scooter there ) separately, but you should still be able to keep things under $500.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with USB audio interfaces - that is, if you're not planning on tracking more than say 4 instruments at a time. If you're only doing 1 or 2 simultaneously, the extra money for a firewire interface might not be worth it (although the 410 is the first affordable model and ooks pretty enticing if you have the cash). No matter what, you'll be reliant on good working drivers, so read up as much as you can.

If the Big Box (i.e. Logic Audio and NOT Logic Gold or Logic Platinum) covers your needs, you should be able to meet your budget with one of the USB interfaces. You mentioned wanting some virtual instrument capability, so I'd assume you'll want a MIDI interface as well. I'm not as familiar with the other companies, but the first thing that comes to mind is Tascam's US-122, which sells for a little under $200. I can't guarantee you'll have smooth sailing, as some users of Tascam's USB interfaces have experienced problems with the OSX drivers, but I have a US-428 and run Logic Audio 6.0.1. just fine. And I know that Frontier Design (which co-developed Tascam's interfaces) are working to solve any existing problems.

I don't think anybody will be able to offer up any advice on anything that 'definitely works' because everybody's system is set up differently and there are no guarantees, as you'll quickly find, in the world of computer audio. I'd suggest searching through the forums here and elsewhere to see what interfaces have decently working OSX drivers. Best of luck.