...getting Started Indeed!, Orchestral synth? Recording? ... Options

[ramekin]

Greetings all,
I'd really appreciate any comments or pointers on the following subject: I'm very interested in beginning to work on music composition on the ol' computer. (Not so old---an 867mhz Powerbook running 10.2.4). I've looked into product pages, but would like some more straightforward comments. I already have some background with recording/editing (e.g. Peak, Deck, Arboretum stuff). In particular I would like to be able to enter scores and hear in return some relatively non-cheesy orchestral synth, and why not have the possibility to include recorded audio, experiment with this and that, and perhaps become fairly serious about the computer side of things.

SO to the point :)

If I purchased something like Logic Gold 6, would it fulfill this? Are there currently orchestral synth packages which would work with it?

Other suggestions, things to read, and notes of caution or support? :)

Thanks,
D. Wooten