New Powerbook Studio, Advice on new Powerbook Studio needed Options

[SiGi]

Hi,
I am just starting to put together a home studio and am in need of some advice. I currently have a Powerbook G4 1.5Ghz, 512 running Reason 2.0. I am interested in putting together Vocal/Guitar/Piano based music with a simple system that works, I don't have the technical ability to sort out latency/compatability etc. issues!

What do I need?......
More memory: Should I upgrade to 1GB?
Audio Interface: USB or Firewire (Ua-5, Ua-700 ,Tascam FW1884, RME Hammerfall, MOTU 896 and PreSonus Firestation)) ??
External Hard Drive: Firewire or USB?
Sequencer: Go all out on Logic 6 or will Tracktion do the job?
Vocals: Is this simply input via the Audio Interface or do I need something else, compressor (MAudio TAMPA)?

I am more interested in keeping it simple and having it work without too much fiddling!

Thanks

[lushbudget]

Well, I can tell you what I have and after some help from these forums have been using successfully. It really depends on what you want to do - but most folks here suggest Logic. Logic is a truly powerful app, handles sequencing, recording, mixing, midi, and mastering. But it is a truly in depth app, and will come with a major learning curve as you begin to tap it's power.

I personally had to start recording right away, and since I have a PowerBook (G4 Titanium, 867Mhz, 1Gb RAM) I wanted to be mobile. So I bought the M Box from Digidesign. It runs about $450, $550 with the Factory Bundle (worth the $!) It has 2 Focusrite pre-amps, several ins/outs and S/PDIF, 2 headphone jacks, and 48v of Phantom Power (for those sources that don't have their own pre-amps)
M Box came with ProTools LE 6 and special versions of Reason, Ableton Live (an excellent sequencer!), T-Racks (EQ plug-in), Sample-Tank, Amplitube LE (guitar amp modeling plug-in). I gotta tell you - I was recording the day I brought it home!

ProTools is pretty easy to use, so are the plug ins. I needed a little help with Live, but once I got it I loved it and now I own the full version of Live 3. Reason is great too. The rest of the plug-ins -including a batch of Bomb Factory compressor/limiters - are essential,too. I have a set of Edirol MA-20D near field monitors (self- powered and not too $) I bought a Digidesign rack mount Efx processor (for V/P/G) and a 250Gb external USB 2 Hard drive (I don't have FireWire 800 - only 400, and USB 2 is faster than FireWire 400) YOU NEED AN EXTERNAL DRIVE WITH YOUR POWERBOOK TO RECORD EFFECTIVELY!

Other than that, I just have some mics, some guitars, my Fender Rhodes, and an Edirol PCR-30 USB keyboard controller (for MIDI) and a pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones.

That is my entire rig - it's portable, easy to use - can be had for under $4000 (including the computer) and best of all, it works.

Someday I'll move onto Logic 6, probably with Express first and then up to the full version - but for now I'm using ProTools because I can - it only took a few days to begin to understand the ProTools interface. I've seen Logic in action - it is a superior program for full-featured recording, or if you are doing post-production video work along with Final Cut. But for this semi-pro, ProTools with MBox has enough of what I need. PS - aside from an fast external HD, the RAM is a good move, I saw a noticeable difference in performance when I went to 1Gb. Your Mac can house 2Gb, and I'd but it if I were you!