New to music production... What to buy?

[mynewday]

Thanks again to everyone who's helped a noob like me so far.

Here's what I'm considering. Chime in if I'm making a major mistake or for any last minute opinions!

1) DAW - Reaper - Seems you can still use it after the demo period, but I feel a bit guilty about it, so I'll probably end up buying it just to be legit.

2) Guitars/Bass - Ample Sound - 1 electric guitar, 1 acoustic guitar, and 1 bass. Really like the sounds of these things, there's a great sale going on there right now, I'm already somewhat familiar with their free demos, and a mostly consistent interface between guitar and bass couldn't hurt. With the sale, comes out to under $250.

3) Drums - I'm looking at something cheaper, either Steven Slate drums (starts at only $40, and I can add more drums if I need to, and the sound is amazing), or Sonivox's Tony Coleman Drums (on sale for $50, not specialized for rock but I like the sound and the demo seemed to work well).

4) Keys/synths - Sticking to freebies for now. Besides, they won't be dominating instruments, more just background coloring. I might use piano as a lead from time to time, so I'm open to ideas there. I think the freebies sound pretty good, but maybe someone with better ears can tell me what they're lacking. If there's a piano VST for around $50-100 that doesn't require the full Kontakt I'd definitely take a look.

5) Classical/other instruments - I really like what imagegod2000 posted. Haven't tried it out, checking it out. I've also fallen in love with Sample Modeling's instruments. They sound so wonderful, but they look tough to use, and are expensive, so I'll probably stick to freebies to start, and see if I use the classical sounds enough to justify $200+ on them.

This will keep me well under $500 (only would go over if I opt for the Sample Modeling instruments or a piano library.

Merry Christmas to me! (And to everyone here)

[Zexila]

Don't miss out on this.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=475477

If there's a piano VST for around $50-100 that doesn't require the full Kontakt I'd definitely take a look.

Try this.

http://www.truepianos.com/