I want to respond to this:

First, the issue you are having doesn't sound like its program related as much as resource related.
I know you say you have plenty of RAM, but do you? Here is the problem most users of multimedia software fail to take into consideration. If you have 4/6/8 GB or RAM, you need to find out how much is available in the system. I have 4 gigs running on my laptop, but I only have 68% of that 4 GB available to me because of other applications that run when Windows boots up, plus the resources that Windows needs just to operate.
If you have icons that hang out down at the system clock like idle teenagers at the mall, then you are also supporting other applications (running from start-up) with your system resources. This could cause intermittent issues on recording and playback of multimedia. On top of that, you need to make sure you actually have a sound card... not a integrated sound chip. Onboard audio processing should be fine for playback, but this type of sound device must share even more resources with the rest of the components on the main board. This can be further complicated for recording as some integrated hardware devices do not support full-duplex.
So, my suggestion to you is to identify the sound device you have. You can do this by going to the Start button of Windows, then to the Run area and type in DXDIAG. This will start the DirectX Diagnostic Tool which will have tabs for the different multimedia components of your system. Under the sound tab, you will find your audio device. If you an reply with the information that it states there. We can identify the device.
What I know of integrated devices are AC97, SoundMAX, Tellarc, but there could be others. These devices are not suitable for audio recording in the sense of creating music.
Now, what program should you have purchased?
I think Music Maker was the correct choice. The Samplitude Producer/Music Studio is really more for the user that records instruments in multi track... like a band... simultaneously. It is a full on editor, so if you need to do multitrack editing, than maybe that is what you need. There would be no "Free" Samplitude, as this is also a professional product used in the recording industry. If you are inclined to know more about Samplitude you can check it out at www.samplitude.com.
For you, I suggest we look into the system and see if we cannot eliminate the stuttering in terms of the audio.
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Ok, here is what I found.

I opened up the sound from the directX tool: hardware id: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0269&SUBS'

MANUFACTURER ID: 1

PRODUCT ID:100    TYPE :WDM

DEFAULT DEVICE: YES

DRIVER, NAME:RTKVHD64.SYS   VERSION: 6.00.0001.6323

WHQL LOGO'D: YES

PROVIDER: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORP.

I hope this can help with my problem, I m working on a Toshiba satellite p775-s7215 which has the i7 processor.