Kaboom75

laptop or desktop computer
Ableton Live 8 standard
Audio interface RME do the best ones.
studio quality headphones such as AKG

You can save money on guitar amps and pedals if you use guitar amp and guitar fx software simulation Amplitube free. ACDC used this on their last album.

With that setup you will have a virtual studio that's easy drag and drop and be able to plug lots of instruments in as well as use virtual instruments and mix and master it all in your laptop. You can record one instrument at a time and mix them together, edit make it all fit then export to wave files or MP3, upload it to soundcloud to show it off.

KVR Forums is the best place to ask these kind of questions they know all the technical things. I'm not sure which RME product to use but you get an external one for a laptop that will allow you to plug lots of instruments into Ableton Live and it will run ASIO driver which allows audio from different instruments to run through your computer with out a delay.

U-he make the best software synthesizers to add to digital studios/ DAWS. Control software synthesizers with a midi controller such as Novation 61SL MKII. this midi controller comes with a lite version of Ableton Live 8.

I use Ableton Live 8 I'm a one man band I do 80s type metal and I do EDM trancy stuff.