They are both about on par in terms of ease of use, so it's up to you really. Get the demos of both and see which you like better.

You don't need a synth yet.

MIDI keyboards come in very handy for comming up with ideas, but beyond that you will probably just stick to kb and mouse. SO, I would say, get a basic 25-49 key with no knobs or any other useless bs. More important than a MIDI controller is your soundcard though. I would get an echo Audiofire 4 or similar. You COULD get something $100 cheaper, but it's worth paying that bit extra for the future expandability. For the price, the Echo has the best quality + drivers around.

alright great, thanks for the help. I'll look into it.

Is this sound card external. I am currently in the process of building a new computer so could I simply not install a sound card in the system and just use this instead hooked to the outside. The computer I am using now is a laptop so I cannot install a sound card in it. But external is great.