Advice On Best Live/studio Synth App & Setup Options

[droo]

Hi There!

I'm kind of new to the whole Mac Audio world. I've been a Mac user for 2 years and been laying guitar tracks down with garageband here and there in between gigs/rehersals. Anyway, I also have a suitcase rhodes and am tired of lugging it around as well. I bought a PB G4 (1.33) and have started to play with Reason 2.5 and get into the whole synth and loops world.

I need some suggestions as to what is the best apps and setup for playing various keys/synth patchs mostly for live application but also studio on my PB. Is there cool software you can recommend that have very realistic and organic sounding vintage keys (looking for a really good rhodes), piano, and killer ambient synth pads? Also, I'm looking for a weighted keyboard that's not 88-keys. The closest thing I've found is a M-audio keyboard that's 61 keys and has semi-weighted action - Keystation 61-es. Has any one tried this? Or is there something else that's out there similar to this but better feel (without getting into a crazy price range).

Also, to connect to the house do you just run a line from the headphones out of the PB? Is that sufficient or do I need something like iMic to run signals out? How do you do that? Do you go into an DI box?

Thanks and looking for your wisdom and suggestions.

droo