what are my options?

[ShadowMachine]

ok so I have taken in my mac for it's last clean/fix up before my lovely applecare comes to an end (3 years already?) so Im stuck with using my OLD as shit PC laptop (1ghz SINGLE processor and 1 gig or ram) what can I run on this piece that wont crash from high CPU?...I normally use ableton, but when I use it even on my mac ill get up to around 40-50% cpu, so I know this pile cant handle it, plus it took over 2 hours putting ableton on here, but then had to system restore and now its not on ere and im not doing that again(installing aleton for 2+ hours just to have to system restore or really ever use it once my mac gets back...any low cpu load software that i can just use my vsts in to make samples for later?

[benjam]

Install audacity and get on a sampling binge

[stompzi]

studio one or reaper

[symmetricalsounds]

when my dual core laptop died i borrowed my mates old desktop which was a single core p4 machine with 512mb of ram and still managed to make tracks on there using ableton. you're just going to have to do plenty of bouncing. also sample-based stuff is always a good idea on low-powered machines.

[deadly_habit]

renoise

[skimpi]

dubturbo

[sixth sense]

reaper i only got 1gb of ram on this shitty ancient computer and can bust out a full 30 + track tune no problem

[Basic A]

FL Demo. Stem building workshop, cant save but can make synth lines and drum patterns for days and then audio clip them down... A must have on all old pc's, and all pc's in areas you frequently get stranded.

[JBE]

I'd also suggest reaper for a lesser end pc. It's extremely CPU friendly. You'll probably still have to bounce stuff out but you can do a lot with only a little on reaper. You could also run with an fl demo, it's generally pretty friendly to low end PCs as well, but it can easily become a hog. If you can get your hands on an earlier version like 7 it might not be so bad, but you'll lose out on the PDC and stuff that was added in recently.

[makemerich]

im working with similar shit, im on a ghetto pc laptop, trying to finish an album and easily have put in double the time because of it.
my advice would be to print everything to audio after you write the midi out to save proccesing power..

[ShadowMachine]

nice guys thanks, ill check out all those..how is reaper compared to ableton, useability wise, I ask because Ive tryed switching to logic (buddy bought it doesnt use it, so basically I got a free lagit copy of the new logic express) but found it difficult to work with, as im used to abletons workflow.

[AllNightDayDream]

No one's said reason yet?

[makemerich]

reason is awesome on processing power! i use reason all the time, the only thing about it is you just have to work a little harder to get the sounds to sound less casio.

[JBE]

No one's said reason yet?

I didn't mention Reason simply because he is an ableton user. Why go out and buy an entirely new expensive program when he will be back on ableton as soon as he gets his computer back? With Reaper you get a fully functional 30 day free trial....well technically the trial never expires, but you're encouraged to buy it after 30 days. Right now you can buy the license for 40 bucks. By far probably the most powerful piece of software for such a low price.

As far as functionality in comparison it's not the same. Each DAW really is different from one another so there will be a learning curve. However, most DAWs do the basics rather similar so you can at least do some work with limited knowledge of the program. There's plenty of tutorials and a lot of support on the forums so you have more than enough resources to pull from if you want to learn how to do something in it fairly quickly.

[ShadowMachine]

1) No sharing, talking or encouraging the use of commerical products illegitimately.
Meaning no talk of warez, torrents, or cracked software. Your posts will be edited with a informal warning the first time but we will enforce stronger punishments afterwards.

[AllNightDayDream]

Well that's because macs are terribly overrated and are a gimmick unto themselves.

Good job avoiding that argument haha

[paravrais]

www.buzzmachines.com

Low cpu, freeware, really interesting. Sure it might not be logic but if you're only looking for a stop gap solution while your mac is tuned up then it's perfect.

[sackley]

http://www.buzzmachines.com

Low cpu, freeware, really interesting. Sure it might not be logic but if you're only looking for a stop gap solution while your mac is tuned up then it's perfect.

Nice one. Thought I was the only one who'd recommend Buzz.

It's a choppage monster - check my thread on it.

Though they say that the newer releases aren't stable on XP, as it's being written for Vista/7. It'll still run but may be a little buggy. Having said that, I can still get breaks rolling on my little XP netbook without any hitch.

But you're probably best off with Reaper. Try buzz, but be warned - it's got a very steep learning curve.

[deadly_habit]

http://www.buzzmachines.com

Low cpu, freeware, really interesting. Sure it might not be logic but if you're only looking for a stop gap solution while your mac is tuned up then it's perfect.

Nice one. Thought I was the only one who'd recommend Buzz.

It's a choppage monster - check my thread on it.

Though they say that the newer releases aren't stable on XP, as it's being written for Vista/7. It'll still run but may be a little buggy. Having said that, I can still get breaks rolling on my little XP netbook without any hitch.

But you're probably best off with Reaper. Try buzz, but be warned - it's got a very steep learning curve.

yea buzz is one of the only true free daws, it's def a beast and i know of a few signed dnb heads who use it
definitely doesn't get much love on this board so nice to see it mentioned