The learning curve is steep if you want to know how to use everything real band offers, but then again you don't have to learn everything to really enjoy the program.

It has tc helicon in BB whick is a pitch tracker and harmonizer. You can record with realband and save the track as wave file,(Audio/export audio) then load it into bb and pitch track an harmonize your song. Once you completley learn this haronizer you can create perfectly in tune sounding vocals.

It is a necessity to have good sound card. I use the x-fi elite pro by creative which has a breakout box that you can plug in a mike, guitar, and your midi keyboard. I think there about 300 US now.

I bought a tera byte hard drive so I downloaded realband with everything. It is about a 40 gig download.