As far as I'm concerned the best guess for a half-amateur (before he gets enough money to become a REAL professional
) is the following:
1. ImageLine FL Studio Producer Edition (at least fifth version)
2. SonicFoundry Sound Forge
3. SonicFoundry Acid
4. A good mic (not very expensive but not very cheap) with a long wire (or radio-mic).
5. A good sound-isolated room.
6. THE MAIN THING - GOOD BRAINS (meaning they're not too lazy and quite smart
).
Also, depending on your wishes, you should have a friend who plays a guitar, a flute, a xylophone, and so on
That's in case you want to add some REALLY acoustic samples to your music.
That's even over than enough to create music tracks of a very high quality which can be used as demos (before a good producer notices you and throws you up into the starry sky
)!
...oh! And
of course your computer must be equipped with good-enough
HARDWARE in order to give you proper abilities to achieve proper results!