Got any recommendations for a setup
Turn back while you still can!!
Not turning back? Ooookay… I wish I had someone like me to turn me back before I started out! Haha.. eh.. *sniff* … This is where *I* started spending a lot of money, so get ready.
There are a bunch of different software packages out there. I bought one… Embird is reasonably priced, and you can buy the parts that you need… for instance, there’s the main software part, then there are plugins. I didn’t need the cross stitch plugin, so I didn’t buy it. Most other software packages are $1000 or more, while embird is more like $400 by the time you get the useful things… I’ve tried the 15 day demo and ended up purchasing it. I bought the base program, then I added on the typography plugin so that I could import vector graphics directly from illustrator, and the digitizing plugin so that I’d be able to set up stitch patterns and just get things ready with my custom designs.
Embird is windows only software. I have 5 ridiculously fast Macs in my house, and one sad little $20 PC that I bought at goodwill, and it’s not nearly powerful enough to run Embird. So to be honest, I haven’t really pushed it very hard because my windows box is from like 1999 or so.. it’s just not up to the task. Someday I’ll get one of the new macs that can run windows and mac os, and all will be good in the world. Relative to the tools that I saw in the brother software, embird definitely felt like a powerful set of tools.
As far as a card reader/writer goes, I went with the brother model. The overall feeling I got when I started looking around is that this is an industry based around pseudo-extortion and proprietary hardware lock-in. Since you bought a brother sewing machine, your best bet for compatibility is to buy the brother card reader/writer. Walmart online had the best deal when I checked. Be prepared for sticker shock, when you compare the amount of memory you’re getting on that memory card (1/2 of a megabyte of ram) relative to oh, say, an iPod Nano… (4000 megabytes of ram) for about the same price, well it made me want to cry at how unfair this all feels. There are other card read/writers out there that can read 2 to 4 different card types… but I couldn’t see myself getting another embroidery machine for a long long time, so I just went with the brother model because I knew it would work.
The other avenue you might want to give some serious consideration to is skipping the digitizing software part initially, and having a service bureau do your digitizing for you. You’re still going to need to get the card reader/writer, but if you have a handful of original designs, this might be cheaper than going all out for the software.
I mean, I guess it depends on what your goals are. Mine were to be able to do patches, and I’ve sold a bunch on etsy, and it’s been really good. I’m probably at about half way to recouping all my costs for the hardware, software, and alllll that thread, stabilizer, fabric… ok, maybe less than half way there. It’s been kind of expensive, overall. It’s also been really fun, and I’ve met some interesting people because of being able to give away or sell patches… but yeah.. expensive hobby. 
The GOOD news is that I’ve really pushed my SE270D, put tons of embroidery hours on it, and it’s been rock solid. the only thing it doesn’t do is let you program in jump cuts in your embroidery file, so I end up doing a lot of manual thread cutting with a seam ripper and very fine scissors… but overall, we’re totally satisfied with the excellent quality of the machine. I bought 4 extra thread cartridges so that I could do color changes quickly, and that was an excellent decision. Changing thread around it easy, but kind of tedious and slow when you’re doing a design with lots of colors.
