I use the following gear.
Teenage Engineering
This little gray sampler/sequencer/noisemaker is even smaller in your hands than in pictures. It has four drum tracks, four synth tracks, and a bunch of other cool bells and whistles.
Little pocket calculator-looking synth and sampler. Built in speaker, like the Op-Z, lets you make beats and loops with little else. I am also fearful of bringing these products on airplanes because they look so shady.
Korg
My first analog synth. Simple. Noisy. Also has a built-in speaker. I love Korg stuff.
I have the first generation yellow one. You can get them in both hardware and software form now. If you no nothing about music, but want to make synth loops to zone out to, I can’t recommend this platform enough.
Updated August 15, 2019
Scott Kumis 