This is super moody sounding 
Iv had my eye on audio-making equipment recently since Im slowly starting to shift focus onto doing a big new game project and I know I want to do all custom audio work for it! Do you know about this subject? Any tips on a really cost-effective setup?
I was lusting after the new K.O. II from Teenage Enginnering, which would fall into that indie category too! (Its a sampler and looks like a giant 1980s calculator)
I can't really justify any of it; but this has been filed under the "Things to Buy" bookmark folder!
The new K.O. II looks so cool! If I didn't already have a sampler, I'd be picking that up very quickly.
Synth wise... taste in sound is so subjective! I have many friends who swear they don't hear the difference between good VSTs and analog synths. VSTs are getting really good! I would really recommend checking out Arturia's Pigments 4, especially while they still have the half off price -
It's a very powerful VST that will probably get you any sound you want out of it, and it's $100 off for the next 24 hrs?
Unfortunately, I can still hear the difference between the more powerful analog synthesizers and their virtual counterparts, and I crave the raw power LOL. I also vastly prefer a physical interface rather than using a mouse or routing options to a midi controller.
There are also digital/virtual analog and hybrid hardware synths - some might call them VSTs in a box - but they have their place. A very affordable, popular, and flexible digital synth right now is the Arturia MicroFreak.
Analog wise, without getting into modular synths, my goal synth is the GS Music E7 - it has so much character to me, punches way above its price, and it's built by a tiny company in Argentina. Unfortunately, $1600 is still too much for me.
Regarding FX pedals, most of them are digital FX inside of physical pedals (like those $500 Strymons.) I would highly recommend looking into Valhalla's VSTs instead and applying those FX in your DAW.
Behringer makes some good clones of very expensive analog synthesizers for a very good price, but they have lousy business ethics and I've been persuaded out of supporting them with my money, even if their products make more sense on a financial basis. They've done some very lousy things.
Some other synth companies I enjoy are Korg, Moog, and Sequential/Dave Smith Instruments.
If you discover that you don't really hear a difference or the difference you do hear between VSTs and analog synths is minimal, I would opt for saving some money and going the VST route.
Vsts are cheaper and typically more versatile. This would probably be the route to go if you're trying to spend as little as possible. There are some decent free VSTs out there from what I've heard, and you can use Reaper as a pretty powerful DAW (which also happens to be free the last time I checked.)
On the flip side, hardware synths offer a more tactile experience and you can sell them (sometimes for more than you purchased them) when you're done with them - you aren't stuck with them foreva!
If you do want to go the hardware route and don't want to completely break the bank, you might consider getting a monosynth with a patch bay. Something like the Korg MS-20 or the 0-Coast can take you from nice sounding lead and bass sounds all the way to bleeps, bloops, noisy snare sounds, etc.
TL;DR: $100 on Arturia Pigments V4 and pick up Reaper DAW for free! Valhalla also has some free FX VSTs on their website, and there's currently a coupon to get Arturia's tape-delay for free. Also check out Arturia's Analog Lab Play vst, which is also free!
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