Welcome Bruce! Avid from what I've seen has very mixed reviews from their users of good build quality to having real problems with them. There is users on here that will build you a machine to exactly what you want and within your budget and I can guarantee it will be much better than what you could buy from China or other mass produced items. The support on here is excellent!

Quite a lot of us here use a software called Mach 3 or Mach 4, personally I'd suggest 3 over 4 but there is plenty of options out there for controlling your machine.

Rob