Hi Brian,

Boy, your question definitely opens up Pandora's box as the options are limitless and everyone's tastes, needs and requirements are different . I'm primarily a performing entertainer/musician and not really a hard core studio techie. My setup is pretty simple but I think it has the essential important recording gear to fullfill my needs.

I record backup sequences/styles (midi) on the arranger keyboard itself (Technics KN5000/ Yamaha PSR2000) and use EMC Styleworks Universal software to convert midi song files into arranger keyboard styles. The great thing about the arranger keyboard is that it's not only a great one man band performance instrument, but it's also a one stop music studio production tool as well. For demos, I record my performance (analog-digital audio) out of the arranger keyboard into my PC (Cakewalk Sonar) or Mac G4 (Logic Audio) via an M-Audio Midiman Delta 66 soundcard. From here you can edit or record more digital audio/midi tracks in and add post efx etc and then burn to CD. My advice is to start with a simple setup of the best 'quality' pieces you can afford, and slowly add as your budget allows and needs require. Start by making sure your source equipment (keyboard, sound modules, microphone) are of the highest quality you can afford, because the end product will always be limited by what you are able to capture at the source (input). Here's are a few other pieces I use and recommend:

Mac G4
Dell Dimension 8200, Pentium 4, 1.8 ghrtz, 512 RAM
Genelec 1029A Near Field Monitors
AKG C3000 Condenser Mic
SoundForge software

Hope this at least gives you some ideas.
It's truly amazing what you can do in a home studio these days. Good luck.

- Scott