GPU’s. I remember before the mining boom and the AI boom, three to four hundred bucks would get you a decent card. Managed to score a 9070xt for close to retail price recently and that will have to last me at least 3 more years, if not forever.

Cheap drum machine (korg volca drum), cheap synthesizer, plugged into mixer + no talent + no formal music theory knowledge == unlimited hours of enjoyment. Someday, I might even make something I like.