DAWs
DAW (digital audio workstation)
Ableton Live 7 is the software I use to construct tunes.
Cheaper Legal Software
You need a good soundcard to run your DAW. It simply won’t work properly on the one that came with your PC. Nobody tells you that.
I recommend buying an external soundcard that has a lite version of Live (or whichever DAW you are after) included. External USB cards cost upwards of about $250. Upgrading from bundled software is much cheaper than buying the full version off a shelf. You save at least 50%, but usually more. I upgraded to the full Ableton Suite with change from AU$600. It’s $1,200+ to buy in Australian music retailers. The reason why un-boxed software is cheap is obvious. Less packaging, freight and printing.
Another tip is to find software you like and join the company mailing list. Often you get the same offers as licensed users. For example, Sonar had a 2 day special in which lite users could upgrade to the entire Production version for about US$200. I upgraded just for the hoarde of VSTs that come included with it. Because I started using Live, I guess I’m more into the non-linear way to make music. Sonar and cubasis are linear DAWs.
Ableton Live is now in version 8, but for me, there’s less reason to upgrade as I mostly use 3rd party VSTs anyway. It has some warping additions and a couple of extra instruments, but I’m going to wait for 9 or 10 to arrive.
Happy music-making.