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FL Studio is an excellent program for electronic music creation as is Ableton Live. Both are quite popular with the EDM crowd. Of the two though, FL Studio is probably the more user friendly choice. Nexus2 looks like a neat VST engine, but since I don't have any personal experience with it, I can't speak for it. I can say that Native Instruments offers some excellent quality sound samples and superior sound modeling and shaping tools. FL Studio comes with some great soft synths and vst tools as well. At the very least you'll need some kind of arpeggiator and a step sequencer.

My setup includes Cubase 7 (DAW), Studio One V2 (DAW), a Focusrite Saffire PRO 24 DSP (audio interface), the Axiom 49 2nd Gen (midi controller), a set of Audio Technica ATH-M50's (I mix on headphones), and a couple of condenser mics (a Rode NT1-A and an AKG 220)that I use for vocal tracking. I highly recommend the Axiom keyboard controllers. Mine has semi-weighted keys, a few drum pads, faders, and lots of DAW control options.

In my opinion, external sound devices are superior because they offer more flexibility and portability. With an internal sound card, you'd most likely be looking for a breakout box or breakout cables for ease of use anyway, so why not cut out the middle man?