FL Studio.

Easy of use... and very common. It's very easy to come across FL tutorials on youtube, and that's probably how I found out about the software roughly 3-4 years ago.

It's cheap too.

Can't really remember why I chose FL studio in the end, I've tried out alot of other programs (Acid, Reason, Ableton etc) but to me, the ability to customize the entire layout of the DAW is an attractive feature as I tend to work on more than one monitor.
That and the UI is very nice looking and for the most part, quick and simple to use.

Only real let down for me is the midi support, or therefore lack of, since I have an MPK49 and can't use all of it's features...
But hopefully Image-Line will sort this out in a near-future update.

Reason seems to be an endless well of potential and experience. At least that's how I see it, as I've learned more and more over the years about how to use it. Instead of just giving me a cookie cutter "synth" right off the bat, I instead had to learn how to create it myself. Honestly, there's only one reason I chose "Reason". It's because I heard about it first, and I don't regret it since.

ModPlug:
1) It's free.
2) A lot of music that inspired me was made in module format.
3) I can look at the structure of those songs to learn from them.
4) The final product before wave-rendering is nothing more than a giant note sheet that can be ripped apart, reused, and spliced with others, allowing for experimentation to be very easy and spontaneous.
5) The final product can be smaller than the Mp3 if I wanted it to be.

At 3 days ago, LiquidOoze wrote: I started out with ModPlug Tracker because of a Youtube video, and used that for my first couple of songs. Horrible program, not only because you can only use downloaded samples but also because it just lacked everything: a good manual, an interesting interface and a huge amount of options that are necessary if you want to be a decent producer.

You must not have been using the OpenMPT version; it has VSTi plugin support, a manual, and some other things. In fact, I only use plugins unless I need a vocal or special effect. It does have its limits, though, and the interface is probably not the easiest to use.