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My first thread/ suggestions for vintage Pcs

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At this point its been eight years since I Bought my toshiba 315 cdt (used) for 100 dollars. This computer cost 3500 dollars in 1997 -- And I have written about ten zillion little loops in fruity loops three. I don't mess with it much anymore because Im doing most of my editing and programming on a macintosh which is much much better and more efficient than the previous platform. Which is WINDOWS 98 / 32 mb ram and 133 mhz processo(i believe). Anyway, I know this thing has a kick ass FM synthesis sound card in it. IT was supposed to be an audio computer when it was purchased.

My question is about tried and true software synths that will run on this mouse of a processor and minimal ram. Fruity loops does ok but it glitches alot which actually sounds kind cool through the FM card. Any one who has experience with these programs from this time period please let me know what I should look for, and maybe some suggestions for ways to make this thing pump. I have maximum rack gear and a massive digital front end for my recording phase of things. BUt I don't know much about synth software. Especially on the Windows platform.

color-full picture of the satellite and associate ATUS dj mixer(circa 1993)
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You would probably save yourself a lot of grief by saving your loops and looking around for a faster based PC machine. Any newer synth software isn't going to operate on a machine with that kind of configuration. If the audio card is something worth saving, you could install it in the upgraded PC.

I am in the final stages of disposing of my old Toshiba gear. I really can't offer any names of synth software from that era but a search at Tucows might turn something up.
 
Klaus Schultz did a ton of synth on the Old Tangerine Dream albums with a couple of Apple IIe's. You may need to step out to another O/S? I'd be looking at Linux as I seem to recall a lot of cutting edge work going on over in that camp with legacy gear. The O/S overhead is about a 10th of Windows so your apps will run better and the threading is much better controlled.

Or, start looking for synth software written for Win95. I know it sounds retro, but apps written for that O/S are written tighter due to the system limits at the time. Then there are the apps written for actual DOS - no windows overhead at all. Some of them scream on a system like the one you describe. Lastly, many of the older apps were written to run their own memory managers and such and are self contained. They only need an O/S to load and then take over the machine. These apps will also scream on that old system. Again, no Win overhead at all. You look around and hit the hobby chat rooms and you'll come up with some pretty cool old stuff :)
 
Signaturex,you might have better luck asking these questions in a PC Forum.

For that reason I am closing this thread

opt80
 
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