Dreadful article - as someone in the comments said, the only 'hack' here is the person named in the byline. Surprisingly, the writer completely overlooked the growing popularity of open source/open hardware instruments, ie fully formed devices with functionality equivalent to a commercial product that you can build yourself. If you're no good with a soldering iron it's easy to find people who'll help with the physical build. Here's a (very partial) list:

Meeblip - http://meeblip.com - a small but aggressive substractive synthesizer, very affordable as a starter project.

Sonic Potions - http://sonic-potions.com - the LXR has often been desribed as a 'poor man's machinedrum'

Midibox Seq - http://ucapps.de - probably the most advanced pattern-based hardware sequencer in existence other than the Cirklon, but commercial resale/licensing is extremely restrictive and the project owner's DIY ethic is so strong that kit options are fragmentary.

MIDIsizer - http://midisizer.com/ <- this guy is also lead engineer at Evernote. No word on whether you will be able to send emails with your guitar any time soon, though :-p

Mutable Instruments - http://mutable-instruments.net/ - a variety of instruments, without outstanding documentation and beautifully engineered source code.

Special mention ofr Bruno's Nord Modular G2 open source editor, which works a treat and provides access to several incomplete models that are not accessible from the official editor, like a modelling oscillator, as well as developing tablet implemtation: http://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48872&postord...