Hardware beats, software beats – the battle rages on. Is it true that you can’t get good sound out of a software box, or is it simply a matter of personal preference?

Laying down fat beats used to require synths, mixing board and a whole lot of jacks and cables. There are still some musicians who say you can’t get it done inside of a computer, but a whole lot of us are proving them wrong.

The important question that needs to be answered before you can make an intelligent decision is: “What do you mean when you say ‘beats’?" Do you need just drum beats or are you talking about the whole range of Hip-Hop effects?

If you’re trying to get the most realistic drum beats, without actually owning a real set of skins, you’re not going to do any better than you can do with BFD from FXpansion. Although it’s classified as a “basic sequencer", it comes with what may be the best library of samples available anywhere. And if you aren’t hearing what you want to hear with the included library, then just buy any of the available expansion packs. They also offer a conversion kit that will let you import and use samples from Drumkit From Hell Superior Drummer, Drumkit From Hell Superior Cocktail, Drumkit From Hell Superior Percussionist and Custom & Vintage.

If you need to do the whole music thing, Ableton Live or just “Live", as its fanatic users call it, is one audio software package that’s getting a lot of attention. It’s easy to configure and it’s about as close to pro-level as you can get without paying some serious cash to step up. While it’s probably not the best choice for mastering, multi-track recording, or high-level surround mixing, it’s more than good enough for most any DJ, electronic or techno sounds.

A lot of people are making some hot beats on ‘FL Studio’ (formerly known as FruityLoops), and there are even more who are paring up FL Studio with the Korg Triton keyboard and a copy of Adobe Audition to create a hybrid recording studio that can handle anything that’s thrown at it.

Forget what you’re hearing about flat and lifeless sounds coming out of your PC or MAC. Software beats beat hardware any day, and it’s a whole lot cheaper.