[tomc1985]

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.

[scns]

Then you could mail him one of those licenses no?

[tomc1985]

I've already given them away