Actually, the Pro version of After Effects -does- have a particle generator. As for sound...check out Magix for an inexpensive start. Their Music Studio package does wave editing and multi track controlling, and they have a nice DVD of soundloops (4.7gigs of wav files from all kinds of music formats). Or if you need more power, then go with Adobe Audition. The features shoved in there pretty much make it the Photoshop of sound. You can even generate 5:1 soundtrack data. It also comes with a CD of music loops, but these are .cel files....basically MP3's, but with the .cel extension and the Audition decoder, you don't get the pausefade at beginning and end that an actual .mp3 has. So you don't get delays that screw up your timing.