Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

Does this work well in conjuntion with the xx-7s. I bought an Xl-7 
because it was cheap. Really I want something with organic drums and 
guitars and basses, and I figure getting the emulatorX and sampling 
my own wouldn't be much more expensive than getting new roms. It 
poses as a sound card also, correct? Does it also come with 
recording software? I'm real new to the whole music production 
thing. Would the combination of the emulatorX and an Xl-7 rival an 
mpc. My friend was urging me to get an MPC, and I asked him about 
the xl-7, and he called it a stupid little box, but I went ahead and 
got it anyway, because i could say the same thing about the mpc. 
Anyway I asked him about the xl-7 emulatorx combo and he said just 
to get an mpc. I don't know what to think. The type of music I want 
to make is like rockish, mobyish, metalish, dredgish, dead can 
danceish. Something like that. Really I just want to make some stuff 
to back up my voice, because I just really like to sing.