help.....my gray matter is oozing out my ears!....

Well...cubase offers the ability to use effects in real time with softsynths..it maps the softsynths if they're VST instruments into the channel mixer of Cubase. This way you can EQ it..put FX on it and so forth...you can do this all in one song..live as well..
the only stipulation is system performance..how well your system will be able to handle it..synching is easy..MIDI to the external gear with MTC or MidiClock.
If the soft synth doesnt show up in Cubase or if it doesnt allow it to map into cubase than the answer is no on that aspect. That's why I use Reason and Rebirth!
Also you should look into HALion..really indepth sampler, soft synth..also look into OrionPro..supposed to be really amazing!!!
Anyways..I hope that answers some of your questions...if I missed something or you want further explanation please ask!!
Opus

is reason compatible with more soft synths? i'll check into orionpro, never heard of it.
what about nuendo? is that more along the lines of pro studio engineering?
ok, when i use halion or something like that to sample, i load the sample into the controller keyboard,
layout my rythm,
effects and so forth.
then back into reason, cubase, nuendo for laying down the track.
more effects in there.
then onto the next track like more samples, synth sounds and such.
so if i want to lay more rythm sounds or soft synth sounds on top of the first track i can play the track in cubase or whatever, and listen to the new track.
say if i use another application, or 3 or 4, where is the load on, the cpu itself, the sound card, or all?

i plan on this:

maybe xp333
t-bird 1.3 or xp athlon
maxtor diamonmx+ 20g & 60g
512mb ddram maybe
matrox 450 dual head video
sound card still in ?

sorry for the many questions....thanks for the replies.

pees.

Reason is it's own program that can be run in the background of Nuendo...it has a protocol called Rewire..Rewire virtually takes the audio out of one program and puts it into another...so when you have sounds in Reason they actually show up in the Nuendo mixer and you can eq, fx and mix them within Nuendo!! Now, add a VST like the Pro5 or HALion..lay down more tracks..
Nuendo indeed is a higher ended audio engine..It's native based so it runs off of your system..how powerful your system is how much you are going to get. That's why you see dual processor threads and how to optimize your system threads..
Also why one gets SCSI drives and RAID drives!
more power..so this all comes down to when your system starts bogging down from too many soft synths, tracks, plugins and general mayhem!!
HALion will keep the samples in the computer unless you transfer them to the keyboard or external sampler in question. ANything you will want to be in the final part of the song will need to be recorded in as audio..Reason or any VSTi just needs to be mixed down via the Export Audio feature in Nuendo..no need to record an audio track from a Midi track..it does it for you!
Opus

nice....it sounds like nuendo and reason is what i'm looking for, i need to look at more programs. i'll look at nuendo, the bad thing is, i can get just about every other program for free except nuendo, but if i have to fork out too much money for it, i might just go with the free shite.

i've heard not too much about scsi drives so i'll probably check out more info on that, cause i do want the best for my budget so it can last through expansion. i have a feeling compatability will be my biggest issue.

i'm starting to get impatient with the research, my eyes are starting to bleed.
thanks for the input opus, carefull though you might get carpal tunnel syndrome!