I do home recording as a hobby. My setup is laughable but the songs actually come out quite nicely.
1. I use Cool Edit Pro 2.1 which is software from 2003. Cool Edit was bought out by Adobe and is now know as Adobe Audition. I've tried Cakewalk (because it came with a pedal I bought), but I find Cool Edit to be far superior in terms of tools and usability.
2. I use an analog drum machine from the 80's. It's a Roland R-5. It sounds great but is a bit of a pain in the ass to program.
I also have my old drummer play on some tracks. I'll lay down all of my stuff to a click track, mix it down and send it to him as an MP3. He records his drums and sends the files back. (I've found dealing with a real life drummer to be more of a bitch than my programming my prehistoric drum machine).
