...what is the top of the line Pro Tools called?

The very top of the line protools is Protools HD. Since most people aren't obscenely wealthy, however, most people will use Protools LE. Either way you need the Digidesign interface to run it at all.

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What is the price difference between the two? I seriously want to upgrade my recording setup to have professional sound quality. I realize that I am going to have to spend some money though.

Also, what are the major differences between HD and LE? If I were to do the same project using both programs, would I be able to hear a difference?

Protools HD does not run its effects off of CPU...It uses a "card"..more cards you buy the more expensive and elaborate your setup.....I have a friend that has HD in his studio and he has an unbelievable amount of money wrapped up in it.....The very top interface you can buy with LE is about 21 or 22 hundred bucks. That won't even get you into the ball park with HD.....The biggest disadvantage with LE is that it takes so much CPU to run....especially as you start to add all the plug ins that make pro tools so cool. I'm no expert by any means....I am a starting pro tools Le man myself.

All protools is ridiculously expensive. Before you buy it, though, you might want to consider that just having protools isn't going to give you professional sound. "Professional sound" is the culmination of a multitude of factors that professional studios take months to plan and hundreds of thousands of dollars to build. Just buying the most expensive protools system isn't going to do all that for you. The only real reason that protools is so widely used is just that, because it's widely used. Almost all pro studios use it, so if you were to do a recording at home with it you could send it virtually anywhere else to be mixed/mastered with ease. I've also heard it's easier to use, but I can't really comment on that (I'm a cubase guy myself. If I were you, I'd first look to getting my recording room acoustically treated. The room you record in has a HUGE effect on your recorded sound.

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He is giving you good advice....Protools LE's big advantage is being able to send it to other studios that have protools. Almost any software can give yougreat recordings if youdo the proper groundwork.........

I actually did not know a lot of that, and I thank you for taking the time to actually explain in detail regarding my question. I get a pretty decent sound to my demos with my current set-up (Sony Acid Pro, one mic recording at a time), so the point of actually impressing other musicians who make demos and such. But I want better, and I honestly thought that most of the lacking quality would be eliminated by acquiring more expensive software.

In theory, if I had the total best circumstances, could I get the same quality sound with Sony Acid Pro as I could with Pro Tools?

If I buy an interface compatible with Acid Pro, would that help improve quality at all?? Also, would an interface allow me to use several mics at the same time?

Get a better interface before you upgrade your software. Even if you spent $150 on a USB interface, you should be able to get some very good recordings from it. If you're looking for software because you don't think that Acid Pro is cutting it for you, then check out Ardour (Linux and Mac only). It's open source, so there is no cost for it, and it is great for amateur and pro recordings alike. ProTools itself won't get you better recordings; hardware and technique are what get better recordings Invest in a nice interface, and you'll be flying!

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Any recommendations? Fire wire or USB? I know a preamp would also be useful. Also, I know that a lot of times, you get what you pay for, so I am not afraid of spending some cash.

Thanks for all the suggestions!!

what's this interface thing exactly?some kind of hardware?Or is it software?
I installed protools but it won't start cause it needs some hardware or something

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Hellblaster, interfaces are like external boxes that act as soundcards strictly for recording, except they have much better A/D converters and generally feature pretty decent microphone and instrument level preamps.

Protools is proprietary software. It will only work with Digidesign hardware interfaces, no others, so unless you're going to buy a digidesign mbox 2(comes with Protools LE) or something similar you might as well uninstall it.

I suggest the Presonus Inspire, which runs on firewire and has 2 instrument inputs and 2 xlr mic inputs with phantom power, and you control all the gains and volumes with it's software, no knobs or switches on it(=more durable). It's super fast so you get no latency even with unnecessarily high quality settings, AND comes with Cubase LE which is BADASS, has everything you could ask for for recording guitars, bass, using drum VST's, synths, or recording anything with mics.

I did however end up upgrading to Cubase SX3, simply because it works with full functionality with the drum machine software I'm using(EZDrummer), and I can export the project as mp3 for an unlimited number of times(Cubase LE lets you do it 20 times, but then you can export it as wav and convert it with something else so it doesn't matter at all).

The Presonus inspire costs about 180$(got mine for $140 used) and you can get the more suped up Presonus Firebox for around 300$(has better mic preamps, more simultaneous recording ins, MIDI)

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Is Cubase rather simple to use??

Thanks a lot Soeru.
Guess no money=no protools

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It has a learning curve, but in the end no it's not very hard to use at all. I can point you to a DVD you can download that'll teach you everything from the ground up if you want, it got me where I am today with cubase. I believe it's supposed to be way easier than Protools.

Watching only about 10-15 minutes of it can get you familiarized with all the basic recording and editing(cutting, copying, dragging and dropping) functions. But it's good to learn everything bit by bit and practice everything you learn right afterwards, instead of needing to go back and browse through the whole dvd trying to find parts that explain just 1 thing you don't know how to do.

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can pay (i think it was) 10 bucks for the "unlimited export" software patch.

Like Perse said - getting a new recording program isn't going to improve your sound quality. You'd be much better buying some higher quality mics and other accessories.

I use Cubase SX and I find that its pretty easy and I never used an instructional DVD or anything. It works really well with Reason and FL Studio so thats also a big plus for me. Try grabing it off a torrent or something and see how you like it.

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If you still haven't determined which studio software to purchase I'm going to recommend Adobe Audition and Adobe Soundbooth to be top tier apps. I'm currently learning to use Audition(after we master Audacity) in school and Soundbooth on my free time.