My typical default template set to start already has about 50 tracks. every channel automatically has an EQ on it, most with a compressor as well. i start with about 15 fx channels, 5 pads, 5 for plucks, 3 for bass, 1 for piano, 20 for drums/percussion, couple blank tracks. using massive, sylenth, reaktor, truepiano's primarily for now until i can get a new computer and set up the rest of komplete. and i have about 8 full drumracks set up in my default set, and a bunch of my channels are sprinkled with other effect plugins as well. in addition to my drumracks being filled with samples, i do use samples for FX and other stuff, so yeah i guess id say im always using a handful of samples in my projects.

ive been hunting to track down the exact reason for my issues for a long long time already. ive literally invested dozens and dozens of hours and a lot of cash into this already. at first i thought it was an issue with licensing, so i shelled out a grand for legitimate ableton and software licenses, and sure enough im still having crash issues, which leaves the only option left to be my buggy computer, which isnt very surprising to me, being that this laptop hasnt been very healthy and smooth for a while now.

i have been freezing alot of my tracks recently to save CPU, but i am still experiencing frequent crashes.
simple things like opening a project, duplicating an audio/midi track, exporting, freezing a track, opening a plugin, consolidating a clip, ect ect, VERY FREQUENTLY crash my computer. considering these are ALL absolutely neccesarry functions for producing, that is absolutely pathetic if you ask me.

im almost definitely getting a new desktop anyways, the question is what model... my current laptop has 40g of internal memory hard disk space only and its all used up with no room to be made. i cant even install my new komplete 10 because i dont have enough room. adding up the other issues this machine gives me, im ready to buy my desktop already.

any more suggestions/input/direction is hugely appreciated!!!

 

OK, so it's not Live crashing but rather the OS. Sounds like you sometimes get a Bluescreen, in other words.
If your laptop only has 40GB "internal memory" (you mean the hard drive, right?) it must be at least 10 years old, and the crashes could be caused by defective RAM or otherwise defective hardware (Graphics chips are known to break more frequently on laptops than on desktops, and they can crash the machine as well. I had one specific laptop with a defective GPU chip that always crashed when hitting a certain key combination. No joke, nobody believed me until I showed them. GPU now fixed, problem gone ;-)

Again my simple summary: If you need many virtual instruments (which is not clear from your answer), you need many CPU cores (an Intel i7-quad or i7-hexa core should fit your budget), and if you need many audio tracks or work a lot with samples, you should watch out for an SSD drive. Get both if you need both.
About RAM: Most RAM is eaten up by virtual instruments working with samples, be it Kontakt, UVI, Trilian/Omnisphere or any other sampler/sample-based VSTi. The more samples you want simultaneously loaded, the more RAM you'll need.
Don't be too worried about the CPU clock, I wouldn't care if it's 2.4 or 3.2 GHz, I'd much more care how many cores it has. CPU manufacturers struggle at building low-power CPUs for clock frequencies above 4GHz anyway, and the continuously increased number of CPU cores (see the i7-hexacore is a very good thing for audio.
I have built many, many PCs in my life and from my experience - no, I'd better say audio-related nightmares - today I'd rather go for components with maximum compatibility and high-enough performance instead of maximum performance at any cost.
(I have good experiences with Intel boards, but *no*, I won't start a new mobo war here ;)
Your nerves will thank you. Even the most technically ambitious musician will freak out when his/her machine shows the middle finger when it should rather shut up and do its job.

Ah, and one more thing: Use it for music only. Don't install all kinds of other software "just to try", don't use it to surf the internet and don't, yes, *do not* install any antivirus program. If in doubt, don't give it internet access at all and you can have a healthy and powerful machine that works well for large projects.

 

hi its not about what pc you get but how you set it up.

you said

my current laptop has 40g of internal memory hard disk space only and its all used up with no room to be made

===
this is one of the worse things you can do to a music pc,

try these fixs,

delete all restore points and make one new one yourself,

shut down background programs that you don't need.

then have a look at this video at 4 min you will see how to set your laptop to run for background services

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88KDezVlSH0

the more you learn now the better you will be able to use your new pc .
background services are what your plugins use so set it to that,

download ccleaner and clean your reg
and harddrive,

and last defragment your hard drive when your not using your laptop,
see how it goes after that,

and as mattmckay said 4gb of ram and a fast hard drive will do the job x64

BeSt Of LuCk