Frank & Bob: Thanks for the kind words. Though I"m certainly not the definitive expert on this subject, I'll at least offer my opinions based on my own experiences. NSR: If you're already purchasing a brand new top of the line computer anyway, it might be the best way to go to achieve the studio production quality recording results you're looking for. You didn't mention if you're getting a Mac or PC. Though I'm a long time Mac devotee, I recently switched to the PC for music production, because it seems that PC music programs (cakewalk sonar, logic & cubase) have finally caught up (featurewise) with the once superior Mac dominated music production platform. I use an M Audio Midiman Delta66 24 bit/96 soundcard with Omni I/O Studio mixer, and find it works great and at a bargain price (relatively).
http://www.midiman.net/products/m-audio/delta66.php
http://www.midiman.net/products/m-audio/omnistud.php

The soundcard is extremely quiet and has very low latency. Latency delay is extremely IMPORTANT, especially for live monitoring of your vocals. I personally prefer PC desktop based music production vs the standalone units because the large (17" or more) full color computer screen offers better control visually and it's much easier for me to navigate (on a full sized keybord/mouse) than the dual purpose function knobs of hard disk recording workstations. Software sequencers also support recording midi/digital audio tracks side by side. The only advantage (imho) of the digital hard disk recorder workstation is portability & convenience. If quality, production control, and ease in multitracking is important, then I recommend going the PC desktop or laptop (if portability is really important) based digital audio sequencer route. I'm running Cakewalk Sonar
http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SR/SR1.html

on Windows XP which includes the NEW impressive (low latency) Windows WDM drivers and very happy with the results. If you're buying a new computer, DEFINITELY go with Windows XP. It really is a big improvement. Amazingly, XP hasn't crashed even once on me yet. What I like most is that all the above products work well (compatible) together. I then use Easy CD Creator to master the CD. Hope this helps. Good luck. - Scott http://scottyee.com