There are also numerous plug-in discount stores (Audio Plugin Deals, Plugin Boutique, Emmett VST Buzz, and others) that regularly sell mainstream VSTs at hugely discounted sale prices.
Free DAWs are harder to find, but you can get intro-level DAWs with enough features to get started for less than $200.
On a Mac Logic Pro is $199, which is a full-featured DAW with a solid collection of virtual instruments.
Second on watching the plugin stores, particularly Plugin Boutique. Some of their sales are nuts, and they even have a very well organized free section.
Ableton Live Lite (1 step up from intro) comes free with a lot of music gear. I had a bunch of licenses lying around because it came with my USB audio box, my MIDI keyboard, etc etc.
Also consider FL Studio. Unlike nearly everyone else it comes with free lifetime updates. Like Ableton, every edition except the cheapest has a ton of plugins to cover nearly every need. My license is almost 20 years old, and I'm still running the latest version. Easily the best money my broke-student ass ever spent.
There are countless free VSTs that are very, very good. KVRAudio is a good news source for what's happening in VST World, both paid and free.
https://www.kvraudio.com/
There are also numerous plug-in discount stores (Audio Plugin Deals, Plugin Boutique, Emmett VST Buzz, and others) that regularly sell mainstream VSTs at hugely discounted sale prices.
Free DAWs are harder to find, but you can get intro-level DAWs with enough features to get started for less than $200.
On a Mac Logic Pro is $199, which is a full-featured DAW with a solid collection of virtual instruments.