danster
So it seems these vst's are midi and therefore won't work with GT3. Odd the way they seem to work fine until I want to actually record.
You are correct. GT3 did not have MIDI support, so VST instruments will not work. VSt effects are supported.
While a VST instrument can be inserted in your project, GTP3 has no way to communicate with it. With VSTinstruments(soft synths), you record the MIDI data that is sent to the synth, not the audio output.
Yes, you can get sound from the synths, but your are really auditioning the sound, and have no real way to work with it.
You can work with audio drum loops/patterns in GTP3, but from what I've seen it looks like a rather tedious way to go about it.
I would suggest purchasing any current version of Cakewalk software.
If GT3 is licensed to you, you may be entitled to an existing user discount.
Music Creator 6 is an inexpensive download, and supports VST instruments.
GTP4 supports VSTi's.
Personally, I would lean toward X1 Essentials for your system.
There have been a lot of improvements since GT3