+1 for live, and for piggy.

just shell out the money for live, forget the trial lol.

and piggy is free, ur used to lsdj, it has a computer version (or 2/3??) and has sample start offset.
you litterally dont need anything other than the pig and ur gameboi/lsdj

Never underestimate piggy. It is one of, if not the most, powerful handheld trackers. you can do ANYTHING with it.

buy something like the mc303 or an electribe or an mpc or some other kind of thing like that and an arduinoboy.

Download "trial" versions of Loop de loop, Applechun and Renoise.
Personally I prefer Renoise because of that sick sleek tracker interface combined with the aspects of modern DAWs.

That and it's only what, 50 bucks or something?

Try out reaper. at reaper.fm

Its awesome. and it eats everything, Vst, Vsti, Js whatever man.
Fully customizable DAW.

plus, the demo is not crippled, and it never ends.

Get a really nice synth.

Or DAW + Midi Controller (less expensive)

Right, but I was referring to mortals.   Point well taken.

Really? where?  I love the pig, but I've yet to hear anything whose quality is on par with other sample-based tracks.  Hexawe is awesome, but I've yet to hear anything that compares with modern sample-based music, imo.  Not that I'm one to talk, just a listener's opinion. The moment Marc adds reverb and ADSR, it may get there.

To OP - piggy actually would be a great starting place if you want a similar interface, actually there's nothing better in that case, by mere virtue of the fact that you could bounce down x number of instruments to piggy's 8 tracks.  You could even maintain your phrase/chain structure.  I find even 8 tracks of samples to be limiting without a native resample feature.  Live is awesome, but I hardly have the money for my first DMG, let alone the Lite or Suite versions.  And I would never condone piracy in a public venue.

whatever DAW you use, go to Sounds to Sample and buy a bunch of Electro House samples packs.

You'll have drum loops, basslines, melodies and a bunch of cool FX.

Then you will realize that you don't need to know a lick of music theory or possess any real talent to make electro house. You just need enough $$$ for the right samples

Ableton man. Like what the. I just can't.

If you have an iOs device, iSequence is a great sort of 'introductory' DAWS app that even has things like automation and some decent effects. It's an affordable way to get started if you already have the device. I'm a Logic Pro user myself (using macs since I do iOS programming), but that's mostly for my non-chiptune endeavors that require monstrous resources. Cubase is great too if you're a PC user.

This. Nothing will tell you what you like more than trying before buying.

I think most people do agree with you here.  Live is great because you can do anything with it.  I have used Live a little bit but haven't bought it.  I was given a copy of Reason 3 and upgraded to Reason 5 and I like that cause of ease of use.  I haven't read about Reason 6 but I heard that you can now record with it.  But like numerous people have said, trials are the best.

Why not download a variety of different trials/versions of Ableton Live, Fruity Loops, Renoise, Piggy Tracker, FamiTracker, Milkytracker and the like?

Try them out and see what works for you. If you don't know what you're looking for, then it's anybodies guess. If you go away and come back saying, "I hate piano rolls" then, we can cross some of the list.

Fucking highly recommend 2xLSDJ. The majority of tracks using 2xLSDJ suck anal prolapse, and would be trickier to learn (at this stage) how to properly use filters and create a good soundscape. I imagine a sample based tracker will do the trick for you. I've had nothing but joy with Ableton Live.