Guinness,
I used it back when it was known as Cool Edit Pro.. Not sure what it has for MIDI these days, but if you have any questions I can try to field them for ya.
I picked up Mixcraft 5 which has been pretty good for me lately - kind of like a garageband for windows. Pretty inexpensive as well..
For those who aren't afraid of Linux, I highly recommend the MUSIX live cd (IT'S FREE!). Just boot up the PC to the CD, and it loads up a TON of really good tools (hydrogen, Ardour, Rosegarden, JACK rack to name a few). Save your files to an external drive, and when you reboot, it's back to the original machine (great for commandeering friends and family PCs for a DAW, effects unit, or synth).