Finally found out what the issue was – for some reason (maybe the latest Traktor update) but the sound settings were all set on the highest possible sample rates, latency etc – I lowered these and robert being your dads brother – the load went down to a comfortable 1/4 full! So I can now work on my target of getting a gig in a bar/club/pub within the next 12months, and I can carry on with the ‘scratching for controllers’ course without the sound glitching.
The only negative (if you can call it that) is that I’d pretty much told myself that the laptop and reached its end, and the only way forward would be a credit-card smashing Apple Macbook. So I’ve put that off again (which probably isnt a bad thing!)