Best Setup? Options

[bjurusik]

Alright, I've tried to find answers to my questions in the forums, but I'm still confused. I'm new to computer recording and am unsure as what I need. Currently I have a 17" iMac and a Tascam US-428.
Basically I just want to multitrack with guitar and voice. I've never really used midi, but in the future I may add a midi keyboard. As I understand it, the midi keyboard plays sounds off your computer correct? For example you could chose a grand piano sound set and the notes are controlled by the keyboard. Now when you record a guitar or vocal, it shows up as a waveform. Does midi do the same thing? Say your drum track is midi, is it going to show up in the tracks window below the guitar track? Any suggestions as to what software would work best for me? It has to be reasonably cheap, 300 or less. I've looked at Cubase, Logic, and DP, but they all seem like way to much for what I want to do. Would I be best getting something like ProTools LE? thanks.

[xingu]

Yes, you will be able to record acoustic, electric and vocals provided you have a mic.

Purchasing a MIDI keyboard I suppose would be your next step if you don't already own an old synth that has MIDI capabilities. I believe something like the Oxygen 8 would be fine - yeah, MIDI through the 428 or directly via USB. Not sure about the merits of one over the other, except for limited USB ports on the iMac. (especially since the 428 should definitely have a dedicated USB port).

However, if you play piano and plan on recording traditional piano type pieces, you'll probably be best off paying a little extra and getting a full size keyboard to keep things more natural. You'd probably wind up hating the Oxygen, which is more suited to programming beats and very focused parts. Not so sure about which ones are recommended - you might want to search around the Synths forum here.