What Is The Best Recording Software Out There?

Lately ive been planning on expanding my recording geer with some good software.
At the moment i use Ableton Live 6 Lite. Its one i got free with my Line6 Toneport.
Its great but the lite version only supports symultanious tracks and the times come where i wanna record a couple riffs with vocals, bass and drums too

Im looking for something that got good features as well (a drum machine for example).
Any suggestions?
Not somethign too expensive plz

Recording gear : Line6 Toneport UX2 and Line6 POD XT Live.

Am I Holding My Pick Correctly?

I saw Kris's video on alternate picking and Pavel's on sweeping where they both mentioned that the pick must be held at a slant angle? I couldnt really see exactly what they meant but have a pretty good idea.

Ofcourse now with the change it seems like im back to the begining lol. But just need to make sure i'm going the right way before i get too far.

Another thign is that my index finger (on my picking hand) hurts slightly since the new adjustment. Is this normal or am i doing somehtign wrong? I attached a couple pics. Am i doing anythign wrong?

Any help will be great

Sweeping And Speedpicking. How To Hold The A Pick And What Picks Are?

Hey!
my title's kidna wrong i meant to say ".. WHAT PICKS ARE BEST?". My appologies
Joined GMC yesterday and man i love this place! Real nice job kris!
i saw the alternate picking video and realised i was kinda holding my pick slanted in the opposite way to Kris's. Didnt think it mattered until i felt like the way i held my pick was a restricting factor when i tried out a couple basics on sweep picking.
I decided to change it and hold the pick like Kris. it kidna looks like this from above: \
The way i used to hold it: /

Ofcourse it seems like a completely new start and playing scales seems like more of a challange but i guess ill get used to it

Did i make the right choice though? in changing the way i held it? Doesn it really make a difference or is it just my mind playing tricks? heh

another thign was im having a hard time choosing a pick to use for sweeping and speedpicking.
my current options are:
Jim Dunlop .96mm Nylon
Jim Dunlop .73mm Nylon
and
Jim Dunlop 2.0mm Stubby triangle.

I feel like i could do almost equally well with all three. Whts best for speed picking and sweeping?

Thanks guys

Help Buying A New Amp

Hey everyone!

For quite a while now i have owned a very small 30W Yamaha F20 amp. Its not the best but was quite a good choice for me as i was a mere beginer. Now its time for me to get myself a new one

On stage im usually forced to use rented amps or sometiems ones that i borrow.
Im not the most experienced in the Amplification area and would really appreciate some advice.
I need a good quality clean tone as well as good levels of noise. The effects i'm not too worried about cause i got a POD XTL which i've messed about with quite a bit to get a couple tones im in love with.

Oh yeah i forgot the price range! hehe
my limit atm is around $750 - 900
Im looking for either a combo amp or a half cab. (or even a full cab if its in my price range )

any advice is very appreciated

Thanks,
C.J