Music Software For Electronic Musician Options

[dgm]

Hey there. I would consider myself an electronic musician, and have been using GarageBand lately as my music software. However, GarageBand really limits me in these ways:

1) I do not have enough software instruments or samples to work with. GarageBand barely provides anything in that area.

2) GarageBand's mixing tools are also extremely limited.

Can anyone recommend a good piece of software, that will resolve the above two issues? I just want to be able to have my MIDI keyboard plugged into my Mac, and be able to write electronic music with a good library of software instruments and samples, and also a satisfactory set of mixing tools. I also am not willing to spend more than maybe 7 or 8 hundred dollars. In an extreme case I might spend 1k, but I am hoping that this is not necessary.

Nothing with a HUGE learning curve either. I am willing to spend some time getting familiar with the software, but nothing extreme.

I was looking into Propellerhead Software's Reason, but I'm still not sure exactly what it is. Is it what I am looking for?

Any help greatly appreciated.

This post has been edited by dgm: Thu 19 Jul 2007, 00:32

[mishmashmole]

I'd say demo all the software you can get your hands on. I decided a couple of years back to use Ableton. I make electronic music too and have never felt limited. Whenever I've thought "Hmm, I wonder of I can do that...?", there's always been a way.