Things I did, I would do again. I'm a bargain hunter myself.
Depending on what effects you want depends on the DAW you choose. They all have the same effects typically but they might sound a little different in the so called "analog area".
So what I prefer myself is something more clear like Ableton Live. Ableton comes with many Midi Keyboard controllers and audio interfaces. Search at places like Musiciansfriend.com like the Novation 25 key on sale for 75 or it was atleast. But if you buy from Sweetwater.com, Sweetwater.com will give you free tech support. that comes in handy on setting up your audio interface for the first several times. Making sure you can do it right.
And by the way Pro Tools seemed hard to setup for me. And Ableton Live is a breeze to work with and setup.
A setup you could get that would run cheap would be like this.
M_audio or Novation keyboard.
Novation Launchkey 25 Keyboard Controller | Musician's Friend
M audio or other Audio interface depending on how you want your preamp to sound.
Zeta 2 synth from Jrrshop right now is on sale.
https://www.jrrshop.com/computer-so...urer=63&order=special_from_date&sale=1&type=2
Zeta 2 won the hottest synth out like 2 years in a row atleast. I have it and it is cool, it sounds silver. literally.
MY M audio monitors are pretty decent but I would buy on sale. Monitors can vary differently depending on the bass usually. So beware. they are not all that great all the time. Rokits are bass heavy and pop to me.
I have Sennheiser HD280 Pro's. I recomene them to someone wantgint to have great listening headphones for a normal mix. A normal sounding headphone that is quite flat too. (Which is sought after here in monitors and headphones)