379€ - wow, that's an absurd amount of money for personal software. Include that with every tutorial being priced too and having to buy synths and samples etc this turns into one expensive hobbie.
Its expensive because its good and the amount of engineering to make sure this doesn't drop a single sample in live performance costs time, expertise and cash.
Arturia midi controllers (eg Minilab mkII: ~$100) come bundled with a license for Ableton Live Lite which is pretty functional and might satisfy hobbyist needs.
There are some amazing free VSTs out there. Also, 379€ is about the price you'd pay for a mid-level guitar. So if you're considering Ableton or Bitwig Studio your "instrument" it's reasonable.
(obviously, this analogy breaks under pressure; software still lacks the concrete permanence of a physical instrument)
