Do you plan to record the piano and vocals at once? Or individually?
ProTools LE runs all the plug-ins off the processor so unless you have a pretty good processor and fair ammount of RAM in the dell you'll have problems running it..well, proply with plugs-ins etc
Mic wise.. it's all personal preferance. Some people like the sound of dynamic mic's on piano some don't... It really depends what sort of sound you want, like if you want an ambient sound? Tight warm sound?
All questions that are good to think about

Do you plan on integrating much MIDI or is it all actual instruments?

For an interface i'd probly suggest one of the new M-Audio interfaces with PT M-Powered. Personally i'm a little concerned DigiDesign will phase out updates for the 002 and Mbox over the next couple of years cause they are always picky about how PT can run so play it safe. Also the fact the M-Audio gear has rocking AD converters and PreAmps for the price..

Get back with some more info and we can try and sort somthing

Thanx alot for the response. Today at school I found out that good Piano Mics are good vocal Mics as well so chances are I will only have to invest in 1 of those for now. (I would like to record at once but dont know if Im willing to throw down $500 for an extra Mic.) I am going to be incorporating ALOT of MIDI into my production so I will need anything else that is required to do that. for vocals, Condensors are the way to go. One of the reasons why Ive decided to MIC this upright is because my Triton does not deliever any good Piano Sounds....they are Clangy, harsh and Digital. Tritons Pads and Strings are AWESOME but I think until I get a Roland or Yamaha rack.....the upriught will deliever a much better Sound.
So....I will probably Run with a good Micing setup for my Piano (Condensor which can be used for Vocals as well) and a good Dynamic Setup just to play with on the side. Besides, Dynamics come a dime a dozen compared to Condensors or atleast I have heard. Thanx alot for your Time NIC.

(BTW only 32 tracks on the LE system?----I would rather buy another G4 and scuzzi it up to OS9 running PRotools to obtain 64 tracks rather than paying for ProTOolsHD. Maybe Im talkin nonsense.)

Why are you dead set on pro tools? I'm a pro tools user and love it but if it doesn't give you what you want then why even bother. Cubase or Sonar can have more tracks and in many peoples opinion way more options than pro tools. And by 3k from the ground up for a studio you mean without construction right? Contruction of my 400 square foot basement studio ran into the thousands and had I done it totally right I'm sure it would've gotten even more expensive. All that was just for construction, after buying a 002r factory my new Imac, monitors, headphone amp, additional pre's, new plug ins, I've probably spent close to 20,000 with NO pro quality equipment. I have a lot of good prosumer stuff but none of the real stuff like Manley, Seb, Avalon, Neumann, Massenburg.

First, I am not very set on ProTools which is why I asked for alternate DAW's in the first post. I do lean towards DigiDesignbecause I know it is the Industry Standard from persoanl studions to professional recording. It is also the DAW my Audio engineer school will be doing the most training with....but that is not in any way a set in stone decicion. I like the format of Acid---- and Cubase is kinda cool too but I keep hearing PROTOOLS is the way to go.

I will be able to get alot of the Software and Sound Libraries from kids that I know at school and keep in mind I am not aiming towards something totally professional and certainly no cunstruction. As I said in first Post....this will be in my bedroom---in the corner. Im sure I can get a used G4 for a pretty good price and my old 20" monitor should do for now. All I want to do is get an operational recording studio that's capable of being expanded into an all out PROStudio and functionalbe just for laying down tracks for now. I really dont think a $3000 budget is too little but thanx for your input. Im sure as time goes on....I will accordinly put more money into it.

Well like I said I'm a pro tools user, I have a 20" Imac G5 with a gig of ram and a Digi 002r. If you're wanting to expand to a pro studio someday then pro tools is probably the way to go, one it'll give you a chance to learn the software, two whatever tracks you created can be put into an HD system which is what you'd probably wanna upgrade to someday.

Honestly Pro Tools isn't better than anything else out there. It doesn't come out of the box with nearly as much as something like Logic Pro and can't match the features of something like Nuendo. However for me its so easy to use I chose it over Cubase and I want to upgrade to HD one day so I want to be ready for it. Are you going to be micing more than one or two sourses? If not I'd take a look at pro tools mpowered with an m-audio interface, get a nice preamp, and a kick ass mic. Make your recording chain as good as you can if you spend that 3 grand wisely you can get a few pieces of gear that'll fit into your future pro studio.

Ya. Thats the Dilemma. The reason I want to get PROTOOLS the most is to someday when the time comes I would have the option of upgrading to a pro HD system. However, the only way I would ever put money into HD system is if I was actually making money on my work (which is a slim to none chance)...Other than that I would definatley go with something like DP or Cubase but then if that time came where I actually got a paycheck and wanted to upgrade....that optioph wouldnt be there and I w0uld have to start learning a whole differnt DAW on a whole new system. It is just kinda comfortable for that option to be available. In the BOX though---Cubase would be my choice.
ANd for now, I am only Micing my upright and vocals. Im doing mostly Electronic.

I got rolling with a Tascam FW-1884, Behringer ADA8000, and Sonar4.

First off, let me say this...I learned on Pro Tools but I am a Sonar user. This whole idea of "IF I WANT TO BE PRO I NEED TO UPGRADE TO PRO TOOLS HD SOMEDAY" is obsurd. If you learned on something like Sonar or DP and loved it why would there by any need to upgrade? Don't fix something that isn't broke. But say you did want to upgrade to pro tools. I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to. The software platforms are very similar between Cubase, Sonar, DP, Nuendo, and Pro Tools. Only one I've seen that is somewhat different is Ableton Live. I highly doubt someone is going to come into your commercial facility and run away if they find out you aren't running pro tools hd. If you crank out good enough work they are not going to care what platform you record them on. Also, with almost every software program these days you can export the sessions to OMF (open media format) and load the sessions in nearly any program you want.

Im tryin to learn my way around sonar but its SOOO hard!...I knew there would be a learning curve but Im overwhelmed at this point...

Sonar is perhaps one of the easiest platforms to learn (not trying to insult your intelligence at all so please dont take it that way) so keep reading the manual and keep at it and you will get it soon.

If you are going to do a LOT of midi, PTLE is not the best choice. It's midi features are pretty slim when compared to sonar or SX.

Remember PTHD is the industry standard, PTLE is for personal recording, not really great for composition.

The 32 track limitation would be show stopper for me, I frequently use 12-16 tracks for drums and percussion.
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