Hi! I roamed around the forum a bit, and I think it would be ok to ask for a help. So if there's a cooked answer already, just point me direction. But anyway.
I need to by a soundcard and mic, to record bass/guitar/vocals and use a midi keyboard (good old synthesizer in my case). Soooo, I thought about ESI Maya 44e - it's PCI-E, as I know they have no signal delay, but I'm definitely not sure with that, because the digital things inside the computer are quite friendly, but I never had affairs with soundcards, they're like invaders from Mars to me.
I'm playing all instruments myself now, so there's no need to record them all simultaneously. I have a guitar amp, but I'll use digital programs to emulate the amps if I buy a good card.

As for microphone I think the SM58 is a good choice for a singer.

My PC
Intel Core I7 - 920 2X2.67 GHZ
3 GB of RAM

My budget is 500$.

P.S. I'm not trying to build professional recording studio at home, but I want to achieve the best possible sound using a simple gear. Maybe other stuff is important to buy, so I'll be glad to hear an advice.

Thank you for attention!