This will sound hopelessly retro and analog to most of you, but I'm thinking about buying a small electronic keyboard to use for songwriting.

All of these things have a half-dozen inputs and outputs, including a MIDI connection -- whatever that may be -- which I'm told is for recording into a computer. How does this work? Can you rig up a mike to record vocals along with it?

The PC I have is a Hewlett Packard Pavilion, which does not seem to have a MIDI connection, but does have a quarter-inch input for an external mike. Will a keyboard work through this sort of computer? Do I need additional hardware or software?

All I want to do is make simple one-voice/keyboard demos that I can use as a sort of musical notebook. Would it be less trouble just to wire everything into a small tape or digital recorder?

Thirty years ago I was a pretty good hand with analog recording and PA gear, but it seems the world has changed in a big way.

Help!

Tony