Below is some of the equipment I use for music production. You can also find out more about my mastering studio.

The Access Virus TI desktop synth is an incredibly powerful synthesizer. Its Hypersaw is fatter than the venerable JP-8080, its 3 oscillators sound extremely warm (almost NO aliasing, even in the highest octaves), its filters and effects are excellent, and it has more polyphony than I would likely ever use. It also has several wavetables... Looks cool, too.

The Korg EMX is likely the most versatile synth I've ever heard. It has 16 different synthesis types, and hundreds of drum sounds and waveforms. Jack of all trades, but master of none; its so broad that it isn't quite perfect for any single purpose, but it definitely does complement ANY setup. Expect to hear this synth on many of my newer songs... The EMX will also help me branch out into different styles and genres, since it's so versatile.

The Waldorf Microwave XT is an awesome wavetable synth. It's no "virtual analog"; it definitely has a digital character, but that's what it's supposed to have. This is a unique synth that benefits far more from creative tweaking than just wandering the presets (and it has a "randomize" function which can come up with good places to start). Sounds great, looks great, but the process takes some getting used to.

The Roland SH-32 was my first hardware synth, and it is actually a great little box for the price. It acts like your standard virtual analog, but has 50 different waveforms/variations to choose from. Four filter types, osc ring and sync, true PWM, and a lot of fine-tunable effects. With very good polyphony and even an "analog feel" button (with adjustable amount), this is really a great first box.

Propellerhead Reason is a true virtual studio, down to being able to re-route cables among devices however you want. It includes six devices (synths, drum machines, etc), a dozen or so effects, more knobs and dials than most people could twist in a lifetime, and everything can be automated... I'm constantly finding things out about this software that amaze me - it is definitely worth checking out, no matter what style of music you're into. Reason doesn't support plug-ins (DirectX, VST, or otherwise), but with the built-in devices you can use graphic EQs, as well as create multiband compressors and other things it doesn't directly support, so the lack of external plug-ins is not much of a drawback. Also, it can be integrated into other sequencers (Sonar, Fruityloops, etc.) which do have VST support.

Propellerhead Rebirth is another great program, though it's not designed to be as versatile as Reason. It is a software reproduction of three classic Roland machines: the TB-303, TR-808, and TR-909. It gives you 2 303s to play with, and uses step sequencers for all four devices. It also offers a few effects, like distortion; delay; a PCF filter; and basic compression. Just about everything can be automated, of course, and you could write whole songs in Rebirth if you were so inclined. I have, in fact, once or twice.

Propellerhead Recycle only really does one thing, but it does it very well. It's a loop slicer, mainly for use with the Dr. Rex module in Reason. You open the wav file you want to slice into sections, mark the spots where each cut will be made, then save it as a Rex file. This makes the loop generally sound "correct" across tempo changes in Reason.

Imageline FL Studio is my sequencer of choice. FL Studio allows me to use Reason and Rebirth as virtual instruments, as well as record from "real" instruments and hardware synthesizers. I use a ton of VST plugins, especially the UAD-1 Powered Plugins.