Hi Tzouras,
yes, you can optimise your existing setup quite substantially. A 4 meg upgrade to the ST would be quite a useful thing to have, because you can then run Creator in multitasking mode, running extra programs at the same time. Looking at your gear list, I think you'll find Atari editors for most of your synths on the atariMIDI archives files (look at the FAQ posting above for the full list).
Running a hard disk also makes things a lot easier: you're not fiddling with floppies (I always ended up knocking the one I wanted onto the floor
) and load up times are a fraction of those with floppies. So this means you can have larger song files complete with sysex dumps and sound patches edited and ready to load all at the same time.
As ever, check with Barrie at Keychange for advice on upgrades, as he's the guy who knows and has everything in stock.
Don't get me wrong about upgrading; I know that Logic is a very powerful program, but I find that the main drawback is the very amount of stuff on offer. You start off trying to do one thing and find that there are so many side alleys that you're led down, with the result that three days later you've got nowhere because you've been playing around with setups and other preferences. The Environment page is a case in point: a very flexible and comprehensive feature that allows you to make up a virtual map of all your MIDI connections.
In my case, I already know how everything's connected up, with Unitor 2 and Log 3. On Notator I simply select the MIDI channel I want and play. With Logic, I've got to construct a connection to the MIDI buss and/or module before I can do anything. Even the books on Logic (PC publishing do some excellent ones) admit that configuring Logic is a goos way to fill a boring weekend (or week?
).
By comparison, Notator/Creator is a doddle that never takes you too far away from just playing and creating your music. It's like having a nice runabout for your weekly shopping, while Logic is the equivalent of the Space Shuttle- so many features that you may never use and take up time trying to master.
You may find that a standalone digital recorder might suit your puposes rather than an all in one DAW. No constant upgrading and reloading/reauthorising of software (SOS editor Paul White has waxed particularly wrathful on this subject) and it'll connect to your existing setup very nicely. But I would still hand on to your A8; you never know when you'll need a 'tape saturation emulator' and an A8 is much cheaper than the hardware versions!
Anyway, hopefully this has given you some food for thought. Upgrade your Atari with a nice big monitor, 4 meg of memory, the various synth and FX editors from the net (free downloads, remember) and a hard disk, and you'll find that things can be greatly speeded up and simplified.
Hope that this helps,
Best wishes,
dave
But I'm keeping the STe at least. The STFM I've got may go... same with the Jaguar and XE I've got somewhere. The STe may one day be recovered for MIDI if I could recase it or something when I get a more permanent studio but as for now, it's cupboard fodder for a few years 
