Fun PC music software for a Mac guy?

[storypod]

Here's a question for all you PC music guys - I'm a Mac user (Protools , etc.) and I've just become the new owner of an older PC that was used to run Gigasampler and a few other music apps. I'd like to use this to run some cool PC music software to feed some unique sounds into my existing system, and just wondered what you'd suggest? It's a pretty decent 'turnkey' system, albeit an old one: it's got a Pentium II 866mz processor running Windows 98, 512 ram, 2 hard drives (20 gig and 60 gig) and a WAMI 24 rack audio and Midi box with pci card for all the I's and O's and MIDI.
You might have seen my post earlier trying to get the Gigasampler on the system to work - I haven't been able to, but that may be OK - I'm planning to get the new MachFive sampler (for my Mac) when V2 comes out, and I can use all the Giga sounds on that. So I could use this PC for whatever software mihght be fun to have as a soundsource for my system. I love interesting software, synths, sound design, as opposed to midi sequencers or DAW's (I already have the protools rig). What interesting software would you suggest for a PC newbie, given the limitations of my older system? Thanks! Tim Story

[loogoo]

I think your biggest problem is going to be finding something these days that will run on Windows 98. Usually Win2000/XP is the standard. Also your CPU seems a little slow for today's processor-hungry synths and samplers. You might want to consider upgrading at least to Windows XP and see where you can go from there.

[Jimi]

What interesting software would you suggest for a PC newbie, given the limitations of my older system? Thanks! Tim Story

Hi Tim... A few great "interesting" apps come to mind that will run on your CPU quite nicely:

Propellerheads Reason 2.5 (you can also convert your .gig's to NN-XT format and run Reason as an extremely efficient sampler)
Awave (to convert the .gig's)
Bram Bos Hammerhead (free. Roll your own drum loops. Lots of fun)
Bram Bos Tuareg (you can waste days with this beauty!)
Bram Bos Moonfish (free. Not nearly as good as the other two, but you might give it a whirl anyway. The "vinyl" switch is cute)
Older versions of Orion (a similar program to Reason but cooler in many ways, and MUCH better sound/softsynths, but kinda buggy)
Stomper (free. Nifty percussion synth)
Analog X mini apps/plug ins (free. Tons of these, many useful or just fun)
Granulab (free. Apply granular synthesis to any .wav file)

These should get you started.

[storypod]

Thanks for the great suggestions, I'll get started...

[Andrew Aversa]

I would suggest getting a low-cost VST-compatible host like FLStudio or energyXT, and free VSTs from KVR-VST. There's a WEALTH of synths and effects, many of which are commercial-quality, available for free from that site.