I haven't used Reason a lot, but am familiar with using Ableton Live as my virtual rack. Ableton has some great points and some not so great points. One of the crappy things is having to deal with the company. Every time I buy the new software and try to install it I get a "cannot unlock - too many times exceeded" message. It's a bit annoying when you're a paying customer and you've bought 6 licenses from them.

OTOH, Live 7 is really good. I have also seen and heard great things about Reason, ProTools, Digital Performer and Cubase. I think Garage band is more of a hobbyist level tool than serious audio workstation. With each of these, you can do some pretty good stuff and it quickly comes down to the skill of the producer. A really good producer with Garage Band will probably make a better result than a poor producer using Pro Tools.

Pro tools itself is worth exploring. It requires users to use the hardware that goes with it. You can quickly spend tens of thousands of dollars with the Pro Tools setup. By contrast, the Digital Performer package can cost thousands less.

One thing I always will keep is a tube pre-amp. Tubes just make a warmer sound. I am not sure why solid state cannot replicate it but it really makes a difference. I also invest in good studio mics (Shure SMB-7, 57 and 58). The virtual effects rack is very cheap and very easy to use. Really like it.

Duane