i m pretty much in the same boat. the beats i recomnd fruity loops pretty simple to use you can make tight beats . for record softwear try cool edit pro. and get you an M audio Audiophile usb, hook it to your compture and there you go............
i was lookign for a midi keyboard that would let me make the beats on and then i save it to disk or floppy onit.
and what about mics.. can u recommend any