You know, Google hinders competition. They are so powerful, they dictate the rules. If you do not play by Google's rules and align to their algorithms, you are allowed to consume, but not to provide. You have to pay them and others to even gain a small amount of visibility in their search results. The Google and YouTube algos are unfair as f*ck and promote the already successful.
Yes, the Ataris are extremely reliable. Sure, you could check the caps of the power supply, just to be safe, the PSU is relatively simple, so it can be done by quite some folks. But in general the PSU does not need service.
I am using Steinberg Cubase 3.1 as a sequencer. Working with it is extremely convenient and user oriented. No kidding. It needs a Steinberg Midex interface otherwise it will crash somewhere in the middle - this is the copy protection. If you do not have a Midex, shoot me a message. There are solutions. You find my contact at the bottom of https://tonleiter.net/reihenhaus/
The Atari triggers all my hardware instruments via MIDI.
As my Atari Mega STe has a hard drive, saving isn't a problem at all. But regardless I do regular backups of my songs on to floppy disk. Works like a charm too. The Atari TOS can read MS-DOS disks. You can easily transfer them from/to a modern computer with USB floppy.
I absolutely can recommend to use and find a real Atari for music production. They are reliable. I made over 30 songs with it without getting tired of it!
Still using my real Atari for MIDI sequencing. It is one of the tightest and jitter free setups you can get even today. As far as I know the midi ports are directly bound to the CIA which itself is directly connected to the CPU. If you compare this to MIDI over USB, then there are worlds between it. This also also one of the limitation of the Hatari emulator. You cannot use it for midi stuff as you do not get the advantages.
Yes, as an computer addictive (like me), this is also a great strategy. In my basement I set up a computer just for music production, nothing else. Right besides the modern production computer is my Atari ST I do sequencing with. This thing even doesn't have a network connection (although it would be possible).
My working computer still is a stationary desktop computer. I still need to go somewhere to use a real computer. Love that. I do not like smartphones. Surveillance devices.