What Software/hardware To Buy, iMac based home demo recording system Options

[Stevie]

I am singer/songwriter looking for a simple, good quality, inexpensive (in that order) home demo recording system.
 
I would like to use my one year old iMac 17 to record demos to:
 
1)  Put on my website.
 
2)  Send to booking agents.
 
3)  Eventually, use as guides for making commercial quality studio recordings.
 
Requirements:
 
1)  It must record guitar and vocals. 
 
2)  The system must have reasonable quality echo, delay, eq and other effects
 
3)  If possible, I would like to use drum samples from the recording/sequencing program, but if that turns into a problem, I can use my drum machine on two of the tracks. 
 
4)  If possible, I would like to use my guitar as a bass, in other words, record a single note guitar track then cut the frequency in half. 
 
5)  If the system comes with piano, synthesizer, horn or other samples, so much the better.
 
What do you recommend?
 
If I wanted to do commercial quality, what would the price/ease-of-use penalty be?
 
Steve

[xingu]

I would recommend looking into either Emagic's Logic Big Box, which is based around Logic Audio (the entry level of 3 platforms) or Steinberg's Studio Case, which is based around Cubase SE (also the first of 3 progressive levels). I don't know much at all about the latter, but I'm a Big Box owner and quite happy with it. Reasonable quality plugs is surely relative, but everything I've done absolutely blows away anything I'd ever done with a 4-track tape recorder. I suppose "commercial quality" is possible, but probably more dependent on your mixing/mastering skills. The Big Box also comes with the es1 synth (built-in), the evp73 Rhodes, the EXSP24 sample player, and the Xtreme Analog CD of samples. The Studio Case is bundled with some extra plugs as well - I know there's a version of The Grand piano but I don't remember what else. Both versions of the recording software are limited compared to the full versions, with not as many features/plug-ins. Emagic has a handy comparison chart of Logic Audio, Gold, and Platinum on its site which should help make your decision. For a bit more cash, emagic also has the Production Pack, which comes with the intermediate Logic Gold and some extras along with an audio interface, which you'll more than likely need, especially if you want to lay down more than one track at a time. What's your budget? The Big Box goes for about $240, and I think the Studio Case is priced similarly.