My DAW is Cubase 5 (I started out with SX). I also tried FL Studio and it's a great software for composing. But I decided to go back to Cubase, because I'm quite familiar with its interface. About the VSTs. I use Waves plugins (RVerb, C1 compressors, L3 Ultramaximizer (great for vocals) all the time and some others occasionally). And the VST instruments are: Addictive Drums, EZ Drummer, Superior Drummer 2.0, Steinberg's Virtual Guitarist, Steinberg's The Grand 2, Steinberg's Hypersonic 2, MusicLab RealGuitar, MusicLab RealStrat, Strum Electric GS-1. For the guitar VSTi I use Guitar Rig 4 or Amplitube. I also got Antares AutoTune but that's no use for my voice as I am a muddy sounding Rock 'n' Roll singer . Good for backing vocals though.