9th Wonder
produced Little Brother - The Listening and "Threat" on "Jay-Z - The Black Album" using FL and Cool Edit on a basic PC.
Trust me, the master didn't come out of Mr. Wonder's SB! live stereo out. Just my point, anything coming out of my DAW is already mastered, remains as is because it should be possible.
I understand the entry level part, but a noob will buy blindly and spend or waste money in the process anyway. It's like the mc303, you figur out how it works and you'll immedtialy know it's limits too, which sucks when you're just getting the hang of it. The mc303 was pretty expensive back then and nowadays nobodies knows how to get rid of em. So dont waste on half steppin, entry level stops where you notice that you understand the utility you're working on, then you should buy it. The comparison I was making should also alternate to a complete hardware setup ( not beginnerskit, which is, like said, a waste of money ) which eventualy is expensive too, with the advantage of easy interfacing with your utilities. The difference on quality can be doubted but hardware so far is still superior to software. Futureprospect on gear; Better hardware becoming cheaper, software becoming more expensive, hardware items integrated on farmcards, software utilities designing hardware for their environments, analogue/digital hybrid studios with digital transport and more embedding of high resolution A/D - D/A. All will get cheaper as technology evolves and the price you pay is defined by your mentality towards making music. Most kids new to the game will buy at random, non-specific when it comes to a sound they're trying to perceive or they are looking for. Vice versa would be to know some more history on the whole subject of synths, samplers, fx and anything that comes to the subject of producing. In that case, knowing the lot, you know what to buy, what it is you need to get the sound you're trying to put down, which mostly takes more a triton can give and costs less than a motif. Finding the right tool for the job gives more value to the effort you put into the music, just go out and compare since there's more than the top5 "most mentioned gear" on illmuzik. Takes more time so have some patience, it'll pay out not sounding like the rest.