Two computers used as one?

[Hy Bound]

Ok, so I know this can be done, and I'm pretty sure a few of you have done it, but I've been looking up how to do this and I have no idea so far if it works the way i'm thinking it will. Sorry in advance if this is NOOOOOOOB-ish.

I'm getting a new computer in a few days that I'm going to use all of my super CPU-intensive stuff (through Ableton Live) on, but I want to keep my laptop running Reason so I have a musical sketchpad for when I'm out and about since it is less CPU intensive. However, I also want to use it for the few backing synths and FX that I'd rather use Reason for.

So here is my question; is it possible (and how) to link up my laptop with my behemoth desktop computer so that the laptop gets Reason ReWired into Ableton on my desktop?

[Yoozer]

Easiest way:

- connect 1 USB MIDI interface to your laptop running Reason

- connect 1 USB MIDI interface to your desktop running Live

- connect 1 MIDI cable from the desktop MIDI out to the laptop MIDI in

- tell Ableton to send MIDI to that MIDI output

- tell Reason to receive MIDI from that MIDI input.

Alternatively: http://www.fx-max.com/fxt/

[Hy Bound]

Do you by chance know of another way of doing this (a.k.a. free software)? Money's a little tight at the moment and I don't have a hundred bucks to spend on that or another MIDI interface. Thanks!

[Yoozer]

What about http://www.nerds.de/en/ipmidi.html ?

edit: actually, buying two of these is even cheaper. Go figure

[audio fidelity]

that got me thinking

http://midi-over-tcp.qarchive.org/

edit: ahh so much for something so simple why do they have to charge for it

seems you can do it free with osx

http://community.sonikmatter.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24645

and here ya go free for pc

http://www.linuxsampler.org/ethernetmidi/