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Download Buzz at http://www.buzzmachines.com -- it is free, and very powerful. You might have to search the news for a link to it. Follow the quick start guide and play around with it for a day or two. Make sure you get the 700 templates pack, if you like it and want to get more sounds out of it.
Download the demo of Renoise at http://www.renoise.com -- the full version is $49, I believe, if you like it. Again, follow the quick start guide and play around for a day or two.
Download the demo for Fruity Loops (don't know the URL), and play around with it (if you can find some quick start guide, follow that -- didn't see one, though).
After using those three for long enough that you have a basic idea of how to get sound out of them (i.e. a day or two each should do, depending on how much time you have), decide which way of sequencing (i.e. laying out the sounds) you like better.
If you like the Buzz sequencing, well, you are stuck with Buzz (not a bad thing -- I use Buzz and love it -- it has a few bugs, but so far I haven't found anything I like better, despite the bugs).
If you like the Renoise sequencing, you might want to check out Skale, Psycle (this has a Buzz-like way of arranging machines), or other sequencers called "trackers".
If you like the Fruity Loops sequencing, check out Reason, Cubase, Logic, Orion, and there may be more like this. This is commonly termed "pro" style sequencing (which is ridiculous -- plenty of pros use trackers, and some -- most notably, James Holden, use Buzz).
Obviously, if you aren't averse to piracy, I'm sure you can find the full version of whatever you want to use/try someone out there on the internet.
Keep in mind a few things:
- There is no reason at all to use a progam simply because of the sounds you get out of it. If you like the sounds, fine, use it to make the sounds, and use some other sequencer to put them together. Don't force yourself to use some sequencer just because it happens to go along with nice native softsynths.
- Most of the discussion on this board are going to be concerning which pro-style sequencer to use. Don't be fooled by this into thinking this means these are the best sequencers. They are the most popular, because they somewhat emulate a hardware setup (and work very well with hardware). Thus, the producers who have grown up using hardware (most of the "pros") will feel comfortable with these programs. Don't assume that because they are comfortable, you will be too.
- No matter what program you use to make music, you will be able to make good music with it. If you are a good producer using a crappy program, you will still be able to make good music. If you are a crappy producer using a good program, you will still make crappy music. The different programs out there just make it easier to produce what you want to produce.
Thus, use what you feel comfortable using, not what someone "pro" likes, or what your friend says is "the best music program in the world!" Yes, gather suggestions from people to know what choices there are. Use their suggestions (if they provide more than just "Reason rules!") as a way of understanding the capabilities of a program, because obviously you will not be able to learn every inch of it without using it for some time. But don't interpret somneone's recommendation as what must be right for you.
For example, I am willing to bet there are very few people here (maybe 2 or 3) who have used Renoise. Yet many people will recommend Fruity Loops, despite not having used Renoise, and not being able to compare them. Why? Because Fruity Loops worked for them. But it doesn't they wouldn't have liked Renoise better. (Now that they are used to Fruity Loops, of course, they probably won't like Renoise, but that's a different story...) And it also doesn't mean that YOU won't like Renoise better.
So anyway, sorry about the really long response.  Hope you weren't too bored while reading it.
In short: Try Buzz, Renoise, and Fruity Loops. Pick which one you can layout your songs the best on, not which one make the best sounds.
Whatever you end up with, have fun!
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-brash
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