MS2000 + MPC2000XL was my core setup at exactly the same time!
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You 100% would be buying a Microkorg or maybe spring a little extra for the MS2000.
Literally everyone around that time had a microkorg, every band and anyone with even a passing interest in synths had one. And only half of the people that had them actually knew how to program them. It was the beginning of thr synth resurgence.
If you were really into synths you would have had a microkorg and a vintage synth of some sort, they were actually affordable back then and mostly common, it was also very possible at that time to pick up a vintage synth from someone who didn’t know what it was or what it’s value was.
Around that time I had a Korg Polysix (that I bought for $90) a Roland SH101 in red (that I picked up for $350) and of course a Microkorg that I later upgraded to an MS2000.
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Haha how did you break that habit? 
I was stuck on Reason 5 until 2020 lmao
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I was using
- Reason
- Cubase and a CS1X
- Novation Drumstation
- Generator
- Still fasttracker II
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Bought a Digitakt and a Digitone in 2019, moved out of the box 
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that’s awesome to hear 
hope to join you there sometime 
I was still using my Amiga with octaamed and used the samples of other mods to make my own music. That was a lot of fun back then. Then I got Rebirth, quite impressive but the handling was too complicated for me. You have to remember (god I feel old when I write this) no Youtube tutorial guys back then, so it was either read the manual (boring), ask in forums or trial and error.
One day I stumled upon a demo version of Fruity Loops and I really really liked it. For months I used it and without a save feature, the workflow was quite like with an analog hardware setup 
I sampled something with cool edit, imported it in Fruity Loops, made a track and exported the Wave file of the finished track. No further corrections possible.
I guess I never learned so much so quick as in that period. Later I got a pirated copy of FL Studio and some Freeware Synths and those were the by far most productive years of my music making history. This combination of endless time as a student, seemingly limitless possibilities with a DAW and plugins and the “innocent” internet forums of the day, where you could get reactions even with modestly interesting stuff because there were not billions of people uploading stuff.
I feel like my father talking about the sixties
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I finished school in 2000 and was living with my best mate at another friend’s farm while he was away travelling. At the time I think I had a cracked copy of frutyloops, a Korg ER-1 and a Casio SK-1.
I had no idea how to use any of it and, thankfully, never felt the need to record any of it. I was too busy getting high and playing Command and Conquer to do much with it really.
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In 2000, my setup was something like:
Hardware
- Yamaha RM1x
- Access Virus B
- Waldorf Q kb
- Nord Lead 2
- Oberheim Matrix-1000
- Korg MS-2000
- Quasimidi Sirius and Polymorph
Software
- Reason and Rebirth
- Vaz Modular
- Stomper, Rubberduck, Hammerhead, etc.
I was 23 working at a small music store during that time. Made it easy to borrow gear, buy second hand gear, and get discounts and spiffs from companies. Got a Korg ER-1, Korg Karma, and Korg D1600 this way, but traded them all to get some of the synths I listed. Sold everything I had to go to college, and while I’m glad I went I really miss a lot of that gear. Trying to find it used now, affordable and in good condition, is pretty tough.
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I got an mpc2000 and a yahama cs1x in 1999 for my 21st birthday. Had no idea about synths at the time - walked into sound control in Sheffield and came out with this gear just based on their advice. No GAS or research or YouTube videos. Just enjoyed making lots of trance music like I was hearing in the clubs.
The hardware was definitely a turning point for me having previously used DAWs. And I’m now still composing and teaching electronic music.
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my pick would be 12" powerbook G4
not the exact year but close enough. it mean’t everything back in the day. the turning point where truly awesome laptops became a thing and at the time was way cooler than hardware
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All I wanted back then was a G4.
Never got near owning one mind you.
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I was 16 in the year 2000 and I wished I could afford a Korg ES-1 because for some reason I imagined that Boards of Canada were using this. I ended up with a cracked version of Fruity Loops 3 and resampled it on a SP 404.
Great times.
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me either. me and a mate nearly took out loans and everything haha
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A PlayStation with Music 2000.
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What I did get (during high school in that period)
- Homebuilt desktop
- Soundblaster Live - with custom firmware for ASIO support (and if I remember correctly somehow the output on the interface was better quality than the input so the firmware swapped them for improved recording capabilities
- Yamaha DJX (second hand) for keys (was dreaming of a CS1x)
- Korg EA-1 (first synth I ever bought new, never really got deep into it)
- Reason + Rebirth (randomly finding Rebrith on a fr0zen cd in 98 was what opened my eyes to being able to produce music)
- Cubase / Nuendo (whatever the newest cracked Steingberg DAW I could get my fingers on)
- Various VSTs like Hammerhead etc.
- Hooked up to salvaged amp, speakers, cassete tapes and record players. (Many a casette mixtape was bounced from mp3s
- you got at least 6x battery life playing casette vs CD on the boom bax - so tapes perfect for all day outings and festivals)
Trying to bury the (price) memories of various x0x and juno listings that I couldn’t afford back then.
he would have plenty of cash for an MS2000 after he sold the rights to his time machine. because the Microkorg didn’t come out until 2002. 
I was in high school, sticking prefab loops together in eJay.
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I had a Yamaha S80 – beast of a synth. They also made a smaller version, the S30.
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Oh man we used to spend so much time with that. A friend actually wore out a few playstations because he had them on 24/7 so he could pick up the controller whenever he felt like it. He lived on a friends couch and smoked weed 24/7 so this could be basically any hour of the day, hah.
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