You can't just bounce down to audio (offline) with the Virus, you actually do have to record it as with any other external instrument. The DSP doesn't in fact have anything to do with any audio rendering of any sort, it's just busy being what it is: a synth engine. The TI side of things is more about being able to edit parameters and record automation within the DSP, total recall of presets within a project, to act as a librarian software, and for sample accurate timing - which I believe includes some kind of latency compensation using it's own audio interface, aligning the phase with the note on information (maybe?). The other advantage is that it dispenses with audio routings, involving at least 3 pairs of inputs so that the channels available are all put to good use; streaming this channels with the usb connection.
Think the important part is really the DSP, though. Having this kind of convenience in a hardware unit that's got such a wide sonic scope is already good enough reason to have it, but any editor, even using Midi can give you most things attributed to TI, with the exception of the sample accurate timing - not exactly a problem if you know your latency, you can deal it on a sample delay (negative value) and it's done.
On topic now. On the mixer you can activate and deactivate the parts. Presumably, if only one part is playing at a time, the engine will have all its power available for it - not divided with the other parts. The more voices you have going at once, the sooner you'll hit the ceiling. That's the sole reason you should record each part alone.
|