The Audigy series are relatively high end stereo/5.1 surround sound cards. If you are going to get serious about recording music you create yourself, you will want a card with more inputs. Digidesign, the maker of ProTools is the industry standard. M Audio makes some really good multi-track cards too, as well as Terratec (though the Terratec stuff is difficult to set up). I believe the Audigy retail box comes with some OK MIDI software too.