A lot of people have been raving so between Ableton and Cubase you guys would say Cubase?

I would recommend going in to a music store and firing up Ableton for a while and seeing if you enjoy the process of writing with it.

If you have any plans for live solo or duo performance I would go Ableton for sure.

If you like linear sequencing then Cubase is the go.

A vote for Live here. I used cubase for many years and it is a great program, but once I got my head wrapped around Ableton Live's session view, I could never go back to tradition daws.

Yep, in a nutshell.

Based on your description of what you're trying to do Cubase would be a great tool. Ableton is a good DAW, but it's MIDI is rather limited by comparison. It's super at loops and audio manipulation.

Cubase does come with some sounds, but you'll do well to look to Loopmasters or some other sample libraries. Battery or Komplete from NI has tons of really good sounds to get yougoing in the right direction. Don't just use the stock sounds. Layer and manipulate the samples, process them, etc to get what you need otherwise you'll sound like everyone else, but behind the curve.