ok,
i would be recording audio (ex:guitars). what i would use the controller for is drums,and violins, and other string instruments. what would the moniter be used for?
thank you everybody

The studio reference monitors are used to mix with. They provide a precise, clean sound in order to properly represent your audio's true nuances. A lot of regular speakers are biased in some direction with particular frequencies. By mixing on regular speakers, you would find that your recording would sound quite different from source to source, thus not really being the way you intended it to sound. The monitors help prevent this by (usually) not being biased in the low/mid/highs and therefore giving you the flatest response possible to base your sound on. As Splynter said - they're helpful in so many ways. Getting a pair is highly recommended.

*thumbs up* :)

If guitars are all your worried about, and will be recording A LOT of them (and you are a guitar player) get a pod. You won't regret it. It jacks right into your computer, and provides just about ANY kind of sound you can think of.

I use mine to record with some microphones as well, and it does ok (but a mixer is better). A new pod (bean version) is about 299 new, maybe 200 used.

If you have an amp/fxsetup that you already like, look into something like an M-Audio input interface. You can get a nice one for like $100 that lets you plug in xlr mics, midi, etc via USB. They are usually pretty good, and record in decent quality.

I'd skip a midi interface for now unless you have the money to burn. Get a set of monitors next (arround 200-300 for decent, entry level ones) if you dno't already have a decent sound card to play back music. Usually, the soundcard matters if your recording directly into it, and you can get away with an 'ok' soundcard if you use something like a pod or USB audio input to record.