********* COMPOSITION *******
You don't need formal theory, but it certainly helps when fleshing out a simple motif. If you can't play an instrument, you'll need to be able to at least hold a tune, hum, whistle, sing otherwise I'm not sure how you'll be able to even conceive a simple melody.
That being said, I'd recommend deciding on an instrument and taking a few introductory lessons from a local teacher.
I was singing my own melodies as a kid, and later picked up a simple midi notation software which I used to transcribe them. In high school I picked up piano and guitar, and then finally took some contrapuntal composition and formal music theory classes in university.
Ultimately everybody's musical journey is going to be different.
********** DAW *********
Making software to generate 8-bit music and composing orchestral works are a bit all over the map. You need to think much much smaller.
If you've got a Mac (even a modest one) it's fine to start with something simple like Garageband which is included out of the box and shares a lot of similarities with its big brother Logic Pro. Audio latency is relatively low using the default CoreAudio interface. While you can certainly use a DAW with the mouse, you're not going to build the muscle memory of playing a keyboard so I'd recommend picking up a cheapo 40-60 key midi controller.
On the PC side, while you don't need a MASSIVE rig, you'll definitely need to either use something like ASIO4ALL or an audio interface (MOTU, Focusrite are relatively inexpensive) in order to use a midi keyboard/controller and not want to murder yourself.
Alternatively if you're looking to explore a more procedural non-linear DAW (outside of the big boys like Bitwig), you could try something like Midinous.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727420/Midinous/
You don't need formal theory, but it certainly helps when fleshing out a simple motif. If you can't play an instrument, you'll need to be able to at least hold a tune, hum, whistle, sing otherwise I'm not sure how you'll be able to even conceive a simple melody.
That being said, I'd recommend deciding on an instrument and taking a few introductory lessons from a local teacher.
I was singing my own melodies as a kid, and later picked up a simple midi notation software which I used to transcribe them. In high school I picked up piano and guitar, and then finally took some contrapuntal composition and formal music theory classes in university.
Ultimately everybody's musical journey is going to be different.
********** DAW *********
Making software to generate 8-bit music and composing orchestral works are a bit all over the map. You need to think much much smaller.
If you've got a Mac (even a modest one) it's fine to start with something simple like Garageband which is included out of the box and shares a lot of similarities with its big brother Logic Pro. Audio latency is relatively low using the default CoreAudio interface. While you can certainly use a DAW with the mouse, you're not going to build the muscle memory of playing a keyboard so I'd recommend picking up a cheapo 40-60 key midi controller.
On the PC side, while you don't need a MASSIVE rig, you'll definitely need to either use something like ASIO4ALL or an audio interface (MOTU, Focusrite are relatively inexpensive) in order to use a midi keyboard/controller and not want to murder yourself.
Alternatively if you're looking to explore a more procedural non-linear DAW (outside of the big boys like Bitwig), you could try something like Midinous.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727420/Midinous/