trance?
here's what you WANT:
1. NOVATION SUPERNOVA synthesizer (the 1.0 second hand is cheap nowaday)
2. YAMAHA or EMU sampler (middle-range models are fine, and much cheaper than the high-end models) with 64MB of ram is fine.
3. CUBASE VST/32 5.0 (R7)
4.
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS BATTERY (I have it and frankly it beats any drumbox I've ever seen), works inside Cubase VST
5. Mixer... OK if you have the money get yourself
a YAMAHA 01V (digital) or if you don't have enough, get a MACKIE 12 tracks (analog, but very good). plug in the supernova and sampler's audio ports.
6. Good soundcard: IF YOU TOOK THE ANALOG MIXER: I'd go either for
an ECHO LAYLA or a MIDIMAN 1010; IF YOU TOOK THE DIGITAL MIXER, get yourself a soundcard with an ADAT port, and get the ADAT option for the mixer (ADAT lets you route audio signals back and forth between the mixer and the computer/cubase very quickly).
7. A REAL midi interface: MIDIMAN 4x4 USB (to plug both Supernova and sampler's MIDI ports and control them)
8. GOOD cables ("blue" MONSTER cables will do the job), makes a whole difference.
9. MIDI controller: a cheap CMK-37 or 100 dollars one will do if you are not in need of a large keyboard
10. speakers... also called STUDIO MONITORS... If you don't have a lto of money but want a good sound still, buy a combo:
ALESIS RA-100 amplifier +
ALESIS MONITOR ONE pair of speakers. Pretty accurate monitoring. If you DO have money, get yourself the fabulous EVENT 20/20BAS (bas is important) and plug them directly on the mixer monitor/OUT.
THERE you go... A nice Trance studio keys in your hands. YES it is quite expensive, but here you can compose anything you want! Trance very well, but also anything else.