Something I think a lot of people don't realize when starting out in music: you don't actually have to know how to play an instrument to make music. You don't e

Something I think a lot of people don't realize when starting out in music: you don't actually have to know how to play an instrument to make music. You don't even need music theory. Knowing a little about how instruments work and learning some music theory can help tremendously, but you can actually just start poking around in a MIDI roll or tracker and go a long way. Unless you're really into a specific instrument, starting off with any modestly priced keyboard with pressure sensitivity and MIDI out (USB-based if it's modern) will let you have fun with synths and sampled instruments you'd probably never be able to afford. If you really want to learn a physical instrument that's easy to pick up, you can get a $20 plastic ocarina and find lots of tutorials on YouTube.