well, I was going to buy my own pc for doing this, as my parents probably would not like me leaving mixers, keyboards, and the like in the office where they try to use the computers for internet and stuff (like what I'm doing now)

my friend said he'd sell me his pc for $100, it's a bit older. it's got windows 2000, and was origanally bought by my friend's uncle as a business computer. I figure if I upgrade the CRT monitor to LCD (which apparently is better for studios because LCD don't give off as much radio interference, from what I've heard) get some studio monitors, a sound card/audio interface, some software, and whatever else I needed (I really don't know what else I need) that I could have a pretty decent studio.

what I meant by mid-range was something in-between doc simon's studio, and just buying a 1/4" to 1/8" adaptor to stock sound card, because that sounds like crap.

so let's say I have a budget of around a grand, without including the pc in the price. I'm not against buying used either.

I also want to get a good higher-end pc for gaming, so this would pretty much be just a temporary computer, until I could afford some $1000 computer.

and what I meant about the audio interfaces is, like, the ones that have inputs for mics and instrument inputs and the like. maybe a few volume controls on it. and also, if in the future I did get a computer for gaming, could it act as a sound card for that?