If you buy hardware they usually throw in software for free. I bought a usb-c audio interface and it came with cubase, and my midi controller came with ableton

If you buy hardware they usually throw in software for free. I bought a usb-c audio interface and it came with cubase, and my midi controller came with ableton. They are light versions but they get the job done. It's enough that you can at least compare DAWs. It's not free but I like to plug renoise whenever I can. It's more of a tracker than a traditional DAW, scriptable in lua. If you are a programmer you might like trackers.