Well for three and a half mil you can more or less do what you want !
The "all in one" "studio in a box" machines like the Rolland VS or Korg DX and D series) are great for people starting off however, normally they find that very soon they want more features, like the ability to edit multiple scrub tracks simultaneously, to be able to see where their cut and pasts are going, the ability to use Midi, the ability to use plugins like autotune.
They are however, very reliable and can, with out breaking into a sweat do 8 or even 16 simultaneous separate inputs.
Computers are great however they are a pain to configure. Also if you want more than 8 simultaneous inputs they are going to get very expensive.
Macs are IMHO the best. However a twin 2.5 GhZ processor (with out monitors or speakers) comes in at well over 3 K.
Then you have to buy softwere. For Macs Logic Pro comes in at a grand (has all the plugins you could want), Logic express comes in at 500 bucks and has no pitch correction software.
For PCs something like Sonar producers edition 4 comes in at 700 bucks and has very little in the way of plugins. Consequently pitch correction (autotune 4) comes in at an additional 350 bucks and a comprehensive selection of EQs and compressors like Waves native gold comes in at a grand.
Then you will need to buy monitors (speakers) (about 3-400 bucks) and cables. Maybe a mic and a mic pre amp with anything left over.
If I were in your shoes Id get a Korg D1600, a couple of nice mics (Sure KSM32 a couple of SM58s and an SM57) and a pare of flat response near-field speakers.
Any questions just ask !!
My
instructors page and
www.studiotrax.net for all things recording.
my toons Brought to you by Dr BadGAS
