Wow... totally open question!
Okay, the best programs for composing music full stop, regardless if it's for a game or whatever are decent sequencers, you've got 2 main ones that people fight about much in the same way as Blitz or DarkBasic, these are Cubase and Cakewalk, personally I'm in the Cubase camp.
However, these are only any good if you have a wealth of keyboards attached to your computer as they don't actually make any sound. You can run you sound card off them but unless you've got a Terratec soundcard (or something similar) it's really not worth it. You're talking around £50 for the basic versions of these tools.
Then there are sample manipulation tools, there are loads of these, and personally I'd go for Sonic Foundry's 'Acid' as I think it is superb, you can get sample CDs from their site too. Acid can also be used a mix down tool once you've created something on Cubase to add vocal or guitar tracks, a very handy piece of software indeed. Comes in at around £50. Acid comes in the form of Acid Hip-Hop, Techno, and Rock, each of these has a load of samples that are free to use in commercial projects (assuming you've bought the software) in the said style. What's also cool is that it just used regular Wav files so you can create your own too.
You've got sample creation programs like Rebirth by Propellerheads that is also superb and can also be linked in with cubase and cakewalk to beef up any sound with a nice analogue techno sound. Again mix it all down in Acid.
If you're thinking of getting hold of a good cheap synth you can't go much worse that a Yamaha DJX, they're dirt cheap and have some great sounds for dance music. However, if you're after cleaner sounds, great string pads and realisic pianos etc, you really want to go for a Korg. There are some old Korg sound modules like the 05R/w which you should be able to pick up for around £100 (if that) which are packed full of great sounds.
I think that's about it for starters.
Okay, the best programs for composing music full stop, regardless if it's for a game or whatever are decent sequencers, you've got 2 main ones that people fight about much in the same way as Blitz or DarkBasic, these are Cubase and Cakewalk, personally I'm in the Cubase camp.
However, these are only any good if you have a wealth of keyboards attached to your computer as they don't actually make any sound. You can run you sound card off them but unless you've got a Terratec soundcard (or something similar) it's really not worth it. You're talking around £50 for the basic versions of these tools.
Then there are sample manipulation tools, there are loads of these, and personally I'd go for Sonic Foundry's 'Acid' as I think it is superb, you can get sample CDs from their site too. Acid can also be used a mix down tool once you've created something on Cubase to add vocal or guitar tracks, a very handy piece of software indeed. Comes in at around £50. Acid comes in the form of Acid Hip-Hop, Techno, and Rock, each of these has a load of samples that are free to use in commercial projects (assuming you've bought the software) in the said style. What's also cool is that it just used regular Wav files so you can create your own too.
You've got sample creation programs like Rebirth by Propellerheads that is also superb and can also be linked in with cubase and cakewalk to beef up any sound with a nice analogue techno sound. Again mix it all down in Acid.
If you're thinking of getting hold of a good cheap synth you can't go much worse that a Yamaha DJX, they're dirt cheap and have some great sounds for dance music. However, if you're after cleaner sounds, great string pads and realisic pianos etc, you really want to go for a Korg. There are some old Korg sound modules like the 05R/w which you should be able to pick up for around £100 (if that) which are packed full of great sounds.
I think that's about it for starters.