That is very good advice!
I will not tell you my story fully but i will extract main mistakes i made. But i started DJ and haven’t zero experience when i started i have a solid knowledge of the music genre and rhythm because of the DJ thing.
At this time the only thing related to me was studio and i made a bank loan to buy all sort of things… But i mingled HomeStudio and Studio Pro.
First big mistake i made in my life.
Know exactly what you need before to buy anything.
Before to go Live Performance a the guy photo you post. it’s Live Performance, he choose to be hardware. A hardware setup take time to shape… and you take time to invest and learn piece by piece.
What’s important to have in mind is you don’t need much to write music, but writing music is essential ! and you need several piece of tracks/songs/music to make a Live Performance, right ? at least 1H30.
But before to make a Live Performance somewhere you need to have a name. Explaining a strategy for that is too long but i can if you want gives some basics.
Coming back to writing some music first, i would say a keyboard is the main instrument for writing notes and a drummachine (hardware or software) is the main instrument for writing beats.
To be honest i advise you to take musical courses with a jazz teacher and explain him you don’t want to be a keyboardist you just want to learn/be better at intervals, music harmony and arrangements. he may recommend you to buy a keyboard. If he not teach you on your keyboard, you can buy whatever you want (Midi Keyboard included or your first Hardware synth) If he teach you on your keyboard, you will probably have to buy something affordable for that purpose (hammer action)
For Beats, you can take a suscription on Groove 3 and ask video you will find everything you need to understand Beats, DAW, Hardware, Mixing, etc… Best investment of time + practicing i made ever !
Why ? because before to walk and travel, you need to know how to walk, how to run, how to breath, how to observe and watch something beautiful. no kidding 
Then start with a computer if you’re on a budget (Don’t do bank loan ! prefer take time to saves ! and when you have the money go for it) If you start on a computer, your computer will be your Octatrack after you will convert your music and split things on your Octatrack…
If you want to create your synth sounds, you will need to learn sound synthesis, buy Syntorial … no need teacher there ! Learn Stabs with the superb QuantizeCourses Stab there are all on https://www.adsrsounds.com
Take a month or two after finishing Syntorial best thing to learn sound synthesis to learn how to create a kick drum, how to create a STAB… (you will learn a bit of music theory on STAB courses it’s very important to know STAB and Kick Drum)
Also I would recommend to learn on 3 things DrumMachine + Sampler + Synth
in that order start to making beats, add noises, samples and loops with sampler… Start to learn Sound Synthesis… with the Synth.
Most importantly is Writing Music ! and not buying things !!!
Computer based startup kit :
- A computer (PC or MAC)
- Headphone (Beyerdynamic DT770 or DT990)
- Ableton Live lite
- FXpansion Tremor or DrumSpillage [Mac] (DrumMachine)
- Avenger (Synth)
- Native Instruments Kontakt (Sampler)
Hardware based startup kit :
- Headphone (Beyerdynamic DT770 or DT990)
- Analog Rytm (DrumMachine)
- Analog4 or Digitone (Synth)
- A small analog mixer (Soundcraft, Mackie…)
- Octatrack or Digitakt or MPC Live or Toraiz SP16 (Sampler)
I write startup kit because of what i said 3 important things : DrumMachine + Synth + Sampler
But some people can recommend 2 and if it’s 2 you have a choice to make… 3 for me for writing and performing suit better my needs
When you know perfectly your 3 main tools (DrumMachine + Synth + Sampler) you can start to add more specific sounding hardware or synth…
Also it’s better for courses website and software to wait BLACKFRIDAY
What i would do, find a Jazz Keyboard teacher and learn intervals and music harmony - Buy Syntorial to understand Synth, buy a Analog Keys and a Rytm mk1 second hand to start. (if you want to go hardware and feel the sound shaping and taking place with your hands on…)
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That (great advice) appears to go against the grain of a lot of the (GAS) talk on these forums though…
How to resolve this? Once you buy a piece of equipment, immediately stop visiting tech/music websites (especially after NAMM, Music Messe, Superbooth et al)? The constant glut of new gear combined with Internet forums can steal focus… Perhaps, look instead to what you could do with “that new piece of gear” but using what you already own to achieve the same result…
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I’d take a look at NI Maschine Mk III.
Yes, it will require you to hook up a computer (which you can pretty much ignore completely from then on while you use the controller), but it will give you access to all the basics in a single integrated hardware package with excellent pads you can play drums as well as melodies and chords on.
Except if you’re planning to do really minimal or really specific stuff, you won’t find any single piece of stand-alone gear on today’s market that will do what you’ll want it to.
Even though a hardware setup such as the one Mr. Jones is using looks exceptionally impressive, a setup like that is not a good way to start for a variety or reasons I won’t go into right now.
Also, I can guarantee you that Mr. Jones does use a computer in his studio, and that a lot of the samples and loops he’s using in is set have been prepared in a DAW environment.
You can always get a fuckload of gear later when you’re ready to start performing live. 
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That (great advice) appears to go against the grain of a lot of the (GAS) talk on these forums though…
How to resolve this? Once you buy a piece of equipment, immediately stop visiting tech/music websites (especially after NAMM, Music Messe, Superbooth et al)? The constant glut of new gear combined with Internet forums can steal focus… Perhaps, look instead to what you could do with “that new piece of gear” but using what you already own to achieve the same result…
I do think there’s two category :
Consumerism and Addiction
I don’t really think it’s only a musician problem, it’s a human problem with consumerism. There’s Addiction and if it is addiction there’s professional to help in that territory…
Artistic Behavior
And there’s people who seek and they will look too long or worse all their lives without advancing… What they are looking for : inspiration, pleasure, to make things better, to reinvent the wheel, to find their own sound signature, to find themselves…
in this one it can be a good thing, but when it become to behave badly people need to feel it, to question yourself and maybe get help from a coach or psychologist too ! there’s nothing to be ashamed !
the Key is when it become to be painful and pleasure fade away… desocialization… when you start to ask yourself why I’m doing all that… spend that much etc… it’s when you need to talk and get help
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Nope. I advise him to take what he need only
And he can thanks me later hashtag #TML
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Based on the gear that I have used- definitely DT. A lot of fun and intuitive to use.
But, I have to recommend the Deluge from what I’ve seen. It’s battery powered- so you’ll be able to take it everywhere you go and compose when you feel inspired.
Built in microphone to capture whatever sound inspires you.
The thing is built and laid out with ease of composition in mind.
All-In-One Unit
The beauty of an all-in-one unit is that it’s there for you to use, but you don’t HAVE to use these extra elements if you don’t want to.
I’ve read in multiple places that the Deluge is incredibly intuitive.
Everything I’m gathering about your personality from your post suggests that the Deluge would be harmonious with your personality and desires. Plus, it’s also a sequencer- so you’ll develop a workflow that you can apply to anything else you add to your setup later.
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Deluge is definitely an all in one package that will suit one for years
Is the Deluge and SP404sx an equal comparison?
I’ve been thinking about the deluge a little bit. Without any musical experience, would it be more beneficial to learn on an instrument that has one function versus an instrument that can handle a couple different functions?
For example : learning to produce music i’d imagine can be broken down into mastering the rhythm/beat, mastering the synthesizer, mastering the sampler, etc.
Just curious if taking an approach of a single use instrument would be a little more beneficial in the end when starting out so you can master 1 aspect of the creative process (ex : mastering the rhythm, or sampler)
Probably comes down to personal preference in that a multi functioning piece of equipment would be more fun if that’s the only piece of equipment you have. But may present a higher learning curve, since your dealing with more tools.
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“Mastering” is mostly an imaginary concept(except in the production phase).
If it were real, then you have the opportunity to master all of them on a single device.
Just get one thing and get off the Web. Then start letting your creativity lead you on your journey
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YMMD.
I’m laughing my ass up for solid 5 Minites now.
Personal opinion for sure. For me I’m not interested by grid controller or instruments. All things like Ableton Push, Novation Launchpad pro, Deluge (don’t like the 4digit screen too…), livid instruments… because i don’t like this matrix layout, blinking like a Christmas tree.
I prefer PAD the MPC way and Keyboards classic hammer-action or modern like Roli Seabord Rise etc…
I like Percussions PAD like Roland HPD20 too it’s amazing !
My keys make notes, my PADs make short sounds and drums… my sampler make loops or longer materials heavily processed or just streamed…
(it’s simple like that and you don’t search which hardware play what because by nature and choice you know yet already : your drummachine make drums, your synth make synth, your sampler make … etc…)
And in front of you from the left you have drums in the middle main control of the live/studio and on your right you have all synths/bass etc… But it’s up to you to organise what suit yourself the best. So you are never lost in front of your hardware. That’s the principle too.
For both learning and Live Performance, i prefer dedicated instruments rather than whole groove box or production station. because in the music process i generally start purely with a desire for the day-moment… I don’t force myself to make and Finnish a track today. I start with more simple goal…
Make a Bass sound… Make a groove, record a shaker and treat the shaker with EQ-FX… Record a voice and put it in a Granular synthesis tools and start to shape it like a cosmic part… Plug my keyboard and find chord progression with a Synth Stab or Chord I made yesterday…
When these little gem start to gel well, pairs well… I have a part… then I start to looking what I missed in this part to have sufficient materials to see if I can make a track from them. Sometimes things goes well, sometimes it failed. But I keep all the separate ideas / gems … because one day I will find something to pairs / gel with those … I just don’t know when. it’s how you start your sound libraries.
You can also pair your personal libraries with bought libraries to start faster. But don’t forget your personal libraries it’s the most important one because it’s all about you and your sound signature.
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My impression of the Deluge (and I’m just going off of impressions here, as I assume many of us are) is that it’s an “easy and intuitive workflow” for someone who already understands the various components of what they’d like to do, and is already coming from a background of, say, leaning towards finding the workflow and technical/conceptual quirks of something like the Octatrack to be an inspiring challenge rather than incomprehensible or frustrating. Imagine being tasked with learning the Octatrack without fully understanding what sequencing or sampling really even are beyond the basics, let alone all the terminology involved in production… it’s less like a challenging climb, then, and more like Mt. Everest. By all appearances the Deluge is much easier to use than an Octatrack, but I wouldn’t be so sure that it’s painless. The lack of a nice OLED screen to give you proper feedback on what you’re doing, what mode you’re in, what all the various lights mean at any given time, etc. seems to be a fatal flaw towards making it as accessible as a Digitakt, imo. I could be wrong though! People seem to love them, but the people who buy them are already fairly adventurous and game for trying something with a learning curve, I think.
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Yeah it’s better to understand and practice those 3 main parts (Before anything else) : Drums, Synth, Sample and preferably on 3 main instruments ergonomically and well built in term of design and user interface
Hardware or software : it doesn’t matter for starting. The most important is to write music. If the goal is Live Performance choosing hardware configuration have the benefit of an important fact, you learn your Live Performance hardware setup at the same time. So when the Live comes you already know perfectly your pieces of gear… and you can perform eyes closed … (kidding it’s a metaphor)
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Wow, this way of approaching things really gels with me. That is exactly how I am trying to approach things.
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Start by the basics and Progressive enhancements then.
Share and Meet people with the same habits in your town, meet them and discuss, go see there setup… etc…
do not lock yourself in your music studio you will not find the right answers
Lock yourself only to Finnish your tracks and mixing.
Create outside of your studio, outdoor eventually, Perform outside
another cool way to start that business is to get a cheap mixer, microphones, some guitar pedals like delay or so, a looper, some random stuff suited for music (or not) and something to record that stuff stereo is great, multitrack makes lot´s of more work…
…and cables
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