Cubase mixdown sounds different

[TweakHead]

^TI2 is the same as TI, only with 25% more DSP power. Depending on the complexity of the patches, it will get to a point where there's note stealing.

This is something that has to be done with all hardware synths: you need to record them! The thing is: if you had, say, a polyphonic analogue, you would then be limited to the number of voices it's got (say 5 on a Prophet 5, for example). In this case, if you were to press 6 keys at once, it would only play 5, 'cause it can't possibly reproduce more. What happens with DSP is that every time you add a unison voice, for example, it's replicating everything that's going on with a patch (so do the math). So this has been (still is) the major advantage of virtual analogue technology over analogue - the limits are either set previously with some margin (so as to allow the engine not to overload even when pushed to extremes, which is kind of conservative); or - that I think is the case with the Virus - you can use the entirety of the DSP power available until you hit the ceiling. The later, of course, has to rely on the user's best judgement. If you were to use your Virus as a single instrument, you'd have a hard time hitting this ceiling (even with the Virus C). When you make the entire engine double itself a couple of times, each part is using its own set of calculations for all the modules: oscillators, filters, so forth and so on; same as when you duplicate some software instrument in software, your cpu takes on a bigger hit. It's the exact same thing. I think its meant to facilitate previewing and not having to make decisions right away, not a substitute for recording. If you were to rely on external instruments to save disk space, if by chance one of them got broken, you wouldn't have your track.

Just take a look at the modern branch of instruments with more demanding DSP going on, it takes a lot of CPU. Stuff like Dune 2 or Diva or Lush 101. Having a hardware unit that can touch those complex patches without compromising workflow (making the project less responsive, more stressed, cpu intensive...) is a great thing to have. Even current low priced mono analogues are good stuff to have. Euro rack is even nicer to have (coupled with ES4). =)

[TweakHead]

Yeah, Cubase is top notch.