[LAU] Newbie, where should I start?

Hi guys, I'm trying to setup a `proof of concept' sound processing system on my machine, using Linux. The system should cater rock/metal bands. Now I need to know where to start and what to look at. There's so much documentation and so many software out there that I'm getting confused and don't know where to start. I have around a month to set up the system, so as to give a presentation and a live demo at a local community event. I generally prefer to know my theory properly before practically implementing, so please tell me what background knowledge I should ideally have to implement such a system. Any links, hints, pointers etc. very much appreciated. Thanks a lot. P.S. I'm using Gentoo and have access to the pro-audio overlay. Also, since this is just a proof of concept type project, I won't be spending on hardware. I have a Sempron64 2500+ machine with 1GB of RAM and plenty of hard disk space, although on 7200 rpm PATA. I think I can borrow a Creative SB Live 5.1 sound card from my boss for the project. -- ---------------------------------------- Mrugesh Karnik GPG Key 0xBA6F1DA8 Public key on http://wwwkeys.pgp.net ----------------------------------------