RTP-area local music and culture

[myname AT yahoo.com]

I know very little about making/recording music on a
computer.  What's a good software package for doing
the following:

1.  Programming piano track with mouse and GUI
    (there will be lots of repetition)
2.  Programming drum track (likewise)
3.  Recording guitar, bass, vocals
4.  Mixing
5.  Saving as MP3 or AIFF (CD format right?)

The one package I know of is Cakewalk.  I don't know
if it does the above.  Are there others?

How well do these packages simulate a bass if I
want to program instead of play?  Can I
record the bass part on a guitar, then use
software trickery to lower it an octave?

I'm using Win98, Celeron 1.2 gig, lots of RAM, SB Live!
(old Dell system with CPU upgrade)

Thanks

-- 
Doug Appleyard
To reply, myname (in e-mail address) is dougappleyard
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