I will only tell you good alternatives I have used.

Studio One is great, and it is a very powerful program.

Pros: you can easily do alot of things to whatever sounds you want to edit,
you can use your qwerty keyboard to play sounds, or hook up your own midi keyboard.
The program itself comes with 100s of instruments and loops to choose from.
You can view your project (or song) in multitrack view making it easier to edit.

Cons: There is so much to learn that it will take time for you to get used to it (Haven't had it that long)

Fl Studio is a good start it is simple and easy to use for beginners.

Pros: Very simple step sequencer that will allow you to start making beats in no time, Very easy to use piano roll, your qwerty keyboard will work to play sounds, The mixer has alot of effects to choose from... Using only presets you can get what you're looking for.

Cons: Sometimes to do basic things you need to do alot of work to get the kind of "sound or "effect" you were looking for, you will have to buy soundpacks cause fl studio's default kits aren't very professional sounding.

Hope this was useful