Some good suggestions already, here.

I go with Scott on the Shure SM57/58. It's been an industry standard for decades and it can cope with most tasks.

As far as condensers go, Matt's Rode NT1a is excellent and there are some good offerings from Audio-Technica which might come into your price range.

We use Focusrite audio interfaces, basically because we really like their pre-amps, but they can get expensive.

ROG.