Now and Then: Here's the Crappy Gear You Started Out With

It's not just Drake who started from the bottom then ended up in the proverbial here. Everyone remembers their first gear purchases. Pined after in mail-order magazines, tinkered with at Guitar Centers and local shops, these first items defined who you wanted to be, and your Major Musical Aspirations. Even if they were thrown away, discarded and immediately replaced by "good gear," we've laid out the essential items you started with, based on where you are now. Drake not included.

FOR THE BEATMAKER: Fruity Loops

This piece of drum software, traded on a series of blank CD-Rs, is where your beatmaking began. Yes, it didn't hit the way that Daft Punk track did, but you knew that if you could just get your snare samples right, you were on the right path. It was free, and didn't require a manual, and you could use it on the family desktop between your sister getting on IM to *ChAt It Up*.

This program is actually still wildly popular for producing beats around the world—we highly recommend Wayne on Wax's "We Use So Many Snares" to think about the democracy of free, cheap gear.

FOR THE PRODUCER: Cool Edit Pro

There was a time before GarageBand where free, easy-to-use recording software was nonexistent, other than Windows Sound Recorder. And then along came Cool Edit Pro, the entry-level DAW, which allowed the nascent Conor Obersts to get their multitrack on. Call us Millennials if you will, but this was the eight-track machine of the 00s. Sorry Tascam.

FOR THE INDIE ROCKER: The BOSS DS-1

You may have dreamed of your Marshall stack, but for nasty distortion, this was the $25 Christmas gift we all dreamed of. The fact that Kurt Cobain used it made it even more of a must-have first step to rock stardom. It was orange, metal, and everyone you knew had it.

FOR THE SYNTH GEEK: The KORG MicroKorg

The MicroKorg might be the inescapable entry-level synth in the post-electroclash era.* Don't let the fake wood paneling fool you—the wood paneling is there to fool you into thinking this is an analog synth. However, the inclusion of critical KORG patches—namely a buzzsaw synth bass and classic faux-New Order pad±made this a staple of budding Faint emulators everywhere.

Even if your friend is the nerdiest modular synth nerd to ever get snippy about his Moog stash, she probably has one of these hidden in a closet, with a few missing keys, just in case.

* YEAH WE'RE POST-ELECTROCLASH SO WHAT

FOR THE DAD WHO WANTED TO "GET INTO GUITAR": The Les Paul Standard

Hahaha, you're a dad, who cares about money? Pining for cheap gear is for the young kids who still practice in garages! You're gonna drink two Samuel Adams and play Neil Young until your wife gets back home! WOOOOOO *POWER CHORDS* *MIDDLE CLASS SOUNDS* WOOOOO

Tyler is a future guitar dad. You can find him on Twitter at @tylernotyler.