I was actually headed in the hardware direction in the initial post.

Talking about software:

Cakewalk 8 Pro Deluxe : on the Win 95 machine
Music Creator 4 (MC4) ( by cakewalk ) On the laptop
Music Creator 5 (won from CW)
Music Creator 6
Sonar Essential On the custom machine
Sonar by Bandlab : current on the Dell


You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.