[QUOTE 4603342, member: 45"]He's getting a Roland FP-30 for Christmas. He has a cheap Casio keyboard. We have Roland electronic drums. He's just done his grade 1 piano. The other boy plays guitar. I just want something simple really to get him into it and so that he can find out how interested he is, so I'm on a budget. They don't need a Mac for this level of experimenting.
By controller I mean a USB keyboard controller. I'm not sure whether the FP30 will do this.[/QUOTE]
Looking at the spec on the Roland it seems midi compatible so that's easy enough, as he is already using GB and your looking for an alternative, this link seems to mention various software's for PC might be worth a look at.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-garageband-alternatives-music-production-windows/
i have only really used Ableton myself for the last 5 years and i like it's simplicity and you can record guitars and import backing tracking with ease, as i have tested it and it worked fine.
i have also recently been testing out a DAW called Reaper, which has a 60 day valuation period and there are plenty of videos on how to use it, maybe that's another option, as to buy it if he likes it, only £60 or something so cheap in comparison to other daw's.
if you looking for another controller to run alongside the Roland maybe look at the Akai
http://www.akaipro.com/product/apc-key-25 this has pads pots and keys, going to buy myself one soon as i have been doing everything via the keyboard and i fancy something new

i know these can be picked up for £70 quid or so from various places.