I use Cubase SX. I use it because it has extensive MIDI capabilities and for me it is really easy to use. It also supports VST plug-ins so I can use it with many different VSTi's.

Not only that but it is also a good multitrack Audio recording program.

Now Cubase can cost anywhere from free (as bundled software) to $599 depending on which version you get. If you are just looking for something to build drum tracks with and record a couple audio tracks along with them, you might want to look into the LE or SL versions. They are cheaper alternatives to the SX version.

Also, Sonar is a very good program and will do everything I've mentioned that Cubase does. If you've got access to that, it would be a good place to start. Acid is really designed to be something different and I don't know how it would fit into what you want.

the easiest sequencer to get started with is FLstudio.
The samples it comes with are ass though. People look down on it for some reason, but if you arent recording a band or anything (which you could do) it works just fine. Matter of fact, besides sysex commands and mono recording I can't think of anything it doesn't do.

I use Logic
and Kontakt as vst,
Cubase sx is pretty good for waveform editing

I would agree with saemskin, FLStudio is the easiest sequencer program to use and the samples it has are "booty". I just got the program myself about a month ago and I fing that doing my drum tracks with this versus Redrum (I have that too) is a whole lot easier for me to comprehend. Lately, I have been doing entire beats with FLStudio. I mainly use it for doing my drums though, so if you go that route I would definitely get better samples than what it offers, but you should be able to learn it with no problem.

BigTrey~CEO/BG Recordz

saemskin wrote: Matter of fact, besides sysex commands and mono recording I can't think of anything it doesn't do.

Right. People don't know what you used when you are done.

Definitely stay away from their stock drum samples -- Weak.

Thanks alot everyone for your replies. I have been testing the demo of ACID pro 6 for the past few days and and it is looking quite promising. It has a very natural flow of things, atleast for me...

It's pretty much a full blown DAW app now, though its quite unstable after long perdiods of time. (with the current early build)