If you want to make little 2 dollar beats use fruity loops. If your serious though and actually are a musician(like play an intrument) then get something like Cubase or ProTools and some quality VST instruments as suggested above. Not that I diss FruityLoops, cause it is sorta cool for a cheap app and is great as a notepad for ideas but there are 2 limiting factors if you are serious.
1. Written in Delphi, so you can only use it in Windows. So lets say a few years from now you decide to get a mac for whatever reason. You are stuck in that program. A better alternative to FL Studio would be Reason, for mac or pc.
2. Recording. Once again you are limited. Reason has no recording abilities and FL studio sucks for editing (at the moment)
So, if you really are serious learn a pro app. It will save you the learning curve and frustration in the future. If you decide later you like something about FL studio or reason, you can rewire into the other app. I learned all these goofball programs years ago, then when I decided to really get serious it was annoying cause I knew what I wanted to do but had to spend time reading manuals.
Most people into music will f with anything. So lets say this year your into sequencing and sampling. Next year you might want to record your own samples, instruments or even vocals.
If you were an artist, would you want to be stuck with a box of crayons, or would you want crayons, watercolors, pens, pencils and an easel just in case.
