Computer slowdown / Too many tracks / Bouncing down help

I think you're probably right when you say it's about maintaining a rigorous workflow. I also work with a slow/buggy computer (with Reason, which I've always found to be exceptionally solid) and consequently I don't even turn the bitch on until the song is essentially "written". Also, I try to mimic the method that seemed to work quite well waaaay back in the day when, as a rule, they seemingly always had different people to a. write the song, b. arrange the song, and c. perform the song. I do sometimes simply open up Reason and fuck around but that gets boring as my main thing has always been about the live & visceral aspect of music and not so much with the twiddling & tweaking of knobs.