As for original music I am using the Roland VS-2480 24 track recorder at
http://www.rolandus.com/products/det...odid=VS%2D2480
You don't need a PC with this unit and direct to PC recording requires dedicated PC and many fine-tuning issues. You can export wave files to the CD-ROM if you want to make karaoke CDG's. Encoding CDG's can be done on you wife's laptop same a I have done on my laptop.
Steve