You can find really affordable used guitars or keyboards which are completely suitable for beginners. Beginner's electric drum kits are cheaper than real ones and hook up to headphones - there goes your sound problems.

I definitely agree it is much harder to learn a instrument than it is to learn a DAW. Believe me, I've done both.

There are lots of reasons to forego picking up an instrument, but living in an apartment or a modest budget are certainly not good reasons.