[brandondrury]

I was thinking of the following (take into consideration a rather low budget):
- TC Electronic Konnekt 6
- Shure SM57LC
- M-Audio BX5a or KRK RP5
- AKG K 271

All of these have provided great results. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of them based on what other RecordingReview.com members have told me.

- Any good bass samples to use with Hypersonic?

I've never used Hypersonic. I use Kontakt2 or sometimes the built in Kompakt. For real sounding bass I generally use Quantum XP Hardcore bass, but there is a preset patch of a Stringray in Kompakt that I like a lot for certain things.

You may have better luck posting a new thread about this one in the MIDI Sequencing forum.

- Any better gear than what i plan to buy in the same price range for what i need (recording guitar & bass and drums from midi triggered samples, all mixed in rock fashion) ?

I'm of the opinion aftering hearing about a zillion mixes from the Recording Review section that all home recording gear a given price point is going to sound pretty much the same. It's more of an issue of getting the features you require than quality.

- is the price difference between bx5a and rp5 justified? is it worth spending more on monitors considering the rest of my rig and that i'm at a relatively amateur level?

This is a very good question. You could read user reviews of both, but in the end studio monitoring is a very personal thing. If the room is bad, the they will never be accurate anyway. As much as I hate headphones, if the budget was that low, I'd be tempted to use studio monitor headphones.. You'll have to decide on that one.

You can look at this several ways.
a) The M-Audio bx5a studio monitors cost 50% more than the KRK rp5 studio monitors.
b) The bx5a's cost $100 more per pair than the rp5's. In this audio game, it's not uncommon to see studio monitors at the $2k level even for hobbyists at home. So on the whole grand scale you are still in the entry level category.

If I was broke, I'd either go with the headphones or the cheaper ones. If I had some cash I would invest more in the studio monitors.

- do i need 2 mics? if so, should one of them be condenser?

Depends. I own over 20 mics because I want the right mic for the right job. A SM57 is very versatile. You can record many things with it, but I would have to only have one single microphone. I'd recommend something like a Shure SM57 and maybe an Audio Technica AT2020 found here.

Consider getting all this gear at Musicians Friend. I have a mouth to feed!