Stan,
Having had Mac say that, the next thing is 'what are you using for source material?' In other words, are you going to use solely Real Drums and Real Tracks, where the sound card doesn't matter *as much*, or are you going to be using a software synthesizer? If you're going to use the Software Synth, then finding the best synth for the sound is paramount. Sound cards no longer have sounds built into them, as they did 10 years ago. Now the sounds are all software, and if you don't have a good set of sounds, it won't matter what sound card you get, they'll still sound cheap.

I would think that your laptop, with an external sound module, the most highly recommended now is the Ketron SD2, and a USB midi interface, will get you a better sound for playback, AND recording, if you wish to do so.

A Mic for the piano, a small mixer, and a USB audio interface with the Ketron SD2 will give you a killer set up for recording.

Gary


I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!