In going through old gear I found an old Toshiba laptop - i7-4700MQ, 16GB memory, 1TB SSD. Low res screen but once I replace the decade old battery it should be working fine. I also have an Octacapture sitting unused which has good audio plus midi.
My main GP system is a racked M1, but I thought - what if I used this old laptop as essentially a legacy synth replacement? I could load Korg, Arturia, Waldorf, Roland etc. VSTs and treat it like a standalone system, with simple GP racks that are triggered via the main one?
Thoughts? Again, just looking to repurpose old gear.
My thought process would be to create something similar to the old Receptor boxes so it’s a simple VST player…ideally in clamshell mode too. The main GP instance would select and handle what’s needed.
Then if I could get it working “lights out” I could even repurpose old rack PC hardware and use that for live performance. My only other hardware synth would be my Motif Rack XS and I’d go midi controller/VST otherwise.
Trying a different route now - got an old Dell Precision M4800 for next to nothing with an i7-4910MQ and 32GB of RAM. It’s 500MHz faster than the 4700MQ with a 3.4GHz base and 3.9GHz turbo.
The screen is slightly damaged and the fans and battery need replacing but it should be a good one to test out. Could put it on a sliding rack shelf.