Hey guys,
I'm a "drooling gear head" too
- I think professor's processor issues will be mostly to do with using a G4 - an old processor now, unfortunately. Future, your mileage will be a lot better with that beast PC you've got
- if you're interested in a very nice, resource friendly sequencer / host (works a lot like reason does, with multiple inputs/outputs on modules, envelopes, piano roll etc..) have a look at energyXT - truly one of the most progressive hosts around, and under a meg total size. Burning fast! It comes in three versions too, standalone host, vst instrument and vst effect, so you can load it inside itself, if you see what I mean, and other hosts. Its dirt cheap too!
www.xt-hq.com
Regarding learning the basics of synth design in reaktor, you could do worse than have a look for an old copy of NI's first app (I think?), generator. It was like a prototype for reaktor, and came with a really nice tutorial for building a synth from scratch. Pretty old now tho.. still possible to get good solid sounds from it though.
Got any mp3 online?
Or ogg, if you're up to speed with that.
What's the big thing with Reaktor 5? I'm still using version 3.