a few more questions, need help seeing my way around Options

[edea]

ive been looking into sound apps lately and trying to use demos dl'ing manuals and what not and had a couple of questions as i am now ready to spend a little bit of money.

first off, reason seems a little easier then the rest to use but it also looks as though it may be an inferior product to some of the others. basically what would be a good package of software for me to get to get going. i am looking into making idm/breakbeats/mostly electronic, maybe some voiceovers everyonce in awhile but strictly electronic music. im thinking more into logic or digital performer as ive heard good things (protools looks a little tough to me) but im not exactly sure what they are in the broad scheme of things (as you see i need help) logic seems like it is a favorite among people that arent into protools, but i could be wrong.

second, i want to buy a keyboard. i am not so concerned with with the sounds that may come on it but i also have NO knowledge of keyboards at all. i was looking at usb keyboards from midiman but those seem like they could be huge pieces of crap. what is the best under 500 dollar way to go to get a keyboard into my computer with good sound quality.

those are basically my only questions right now, but there is one more thing. it is important to me that i get something decent even if it costs a little more than i expect. granted i am just learning but how do i expect to be happy with progress if i hear a bunch of hissing and static. plus im not really into going into things buying a bunch of shit. so please give me a hand. im not looking into becoming a professional but i would like to have something that sounds good.

thank you.

[Synthetic]

That small Midiman controller is neat but you must think about the playability since you do have some piano training. It only has two octaves and would be ok for simple one handed melodies but if you are used to playing with 2 hands... then that is not the keyboard to have,

Depending on what keyboard you buy will determin whether you can edit sounds on a computer or if it will let you edit or add sounds to it. You will just have to read the info for the keyboard you are interested in. My Yamaha lets me edit the presets on it and I can use a graphical voice editor for it on my computer and it lets me store the sounds on it and back them up on the computer. So it all depends on what keyboard you buy as far as what you can do with it. Some allow you to have more control than others. You can make loops by recording your midi notes through the computer and assign them to a sound module on the computer or if you get an audio interface for recording on the computer you can record the audio output from the keyboard itself.