There’s never been a better time to make music on a computer. All you need is a decently fast machine with a large hard drive, some non-cheesy audio I/O hardware, an Internet connection, and some patience. If you’ve got all that, you don’t need to spend a nickel on high-priced commercial programs — great music software is available for free.
Free software? Could it possibly be any good? Why would talented software developers just give their stuff away? Several reasons. Some of the most powerful music software in the world has been developed over the years by teams of composer/programmers working in universities. This type of software is maintained by volunteers and used by students, and nobody expects to make any money off of it. Other programs are “teasers” offered by commercial developers who hope you’ll like it so much you’ll buy the non-free programs.