Starting on Windows, not Mac

I want get started asap on a self-produced side project, home-based. The purpose is to get together some coherent sketches of some musical ideas so that I can begin rehearsing with the musicians and shop it around to engineers/local studios for who might be best for the project.

Instrumentation and hardware is there. No interface. Stock soundcard. Windows XP Home. I want to record one track at a time, and put them together on the computer. I'd love to record a couple live tracks with several people, but if that's unrealistic without investment, I don't NEED to. The style will be rock/jazz/exp - the Doors meets Nine in Nails with heavy influences in delta blues and acid jazz. Probably looking at vox, electric and acoustic guitar, drums, electric bass, and all sorts of keyboards (from Hammond to synth). This is a pre-pre-production demo, so quality is negligible. Good quality would make me pleased (enough to NOTget laughed at if I start talking about recording it professionally), although I'm not expecting anything near release-level.

How can I get these into listenable songs, with the least investment?

one of these http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-Fast-Track-USB-Computer-Recording-Interface?sku=703606

with one of these http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Shure-SM57-InstrumentVocal-Mic?sku=270102

with a cable and a mic stand.

for software you can use stuff like audacity,which is free,or you can buy a cheaper program.

That should just about do it. I hear good things about Reaper, as far as recording programs go that you can get into for free.

My obligatory standard reply that I keep in Wordpad:

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:

Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764516345/102-9059220-3248917?v=glance&n=283155&%3Bn=507846&%3Bs=books&v=glance

(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:

http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info:

http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books:

http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) not quality music production.

#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.

Here's a good guide and suggestions:

http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm

Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)

Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\nKristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (It's $40 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($20) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages - http://myriad-online.com

Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they're giving away SamplitudeV9SE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

Reaper. Dont let the low price fool you. This is seriously great software. http://www.cockos.com/reaper/