Using SharePoint Designer
You definitly can do this with workflows.
Just create a list-workflow on List1 which creates a new Item on List2 with the given item values and set the workflow to "Start workflow automatically when an item is created".
All you need for this task is the SharePoint Designer.
If you do so, also consider the occurence of changes in List1 or List2.
Without SharePoint Designer
Try Event Receiver,
I would add an event receiver to List 1 with an item updated event. You can use the event to perform actions on the second list based on the altered information in List 1