I 3rd the AKG C3000 choice.

I used the AKG C3000 condenser mic for all the song demos on my website.

I currently run Cakewalk Sonar XL on the PC. I've been a longtime devotee of Logic audio on the Mac and actually think Logic is really not difficult to learn or use at all. The older versions of Logic were difficult to figure out (steep learning curve) but the current version is really user friendly and easy to learn. Logic has the slickest user interface (imho).

- Scott http://scottyee.com