...it depends on what route you wanna take software or hardware?
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i would recommend with starting off with software...why?... very inexpensive compared to hardware, and you lose less to know money if you come to find out that beatmakin' just ain't for you.

the two most common beatmakin' software programs that "EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOMMA" uses are fruityloops and reason... fruityloops is easy to cop for free on kazaa... reason, however its a bitch and hassle to crack....

i used fruity loops for about 9 months... and got bored of clicking boxes to make beats.... so i chose to go the hardware route... and copped the mpc2000xl... its quite limited compared to fruity... with the the combination of lacing the beat on the mpc and editing and adding effects using the pc....... its been real cool.
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i don't know what else to say... as far as hardware... the mpc and other rival brands are cool for sampling.... just like the triton and many other rival brands are cool for composing...