I think the quality is great *but* 1-with Melodyne Fast-Bounce to tracks can make it get out of sync (if you bought Melodyne as a plug in) and 2-agree that fast bounce will not work with external synths, of course.

Years ago, I had some issues with fast bouncing mixes that have BFD3 drum VSTi. Kit pieces would go missing in the fast bounce, but they wouldn't go missing in the real time bounce . . . so, for that reason I've always had the habit of using real time bounce, since I use BFD3 in most projects. No, I have not tested recently to see if this issue still exists, because I have the time . . . and real time bouncing is my "ear break"

noynekker
Years ago, I had some issues with fast bouncing mixes that have BFD3 drum VSTi. Kit pieces would go missing in the fast bounce, but they wouldn't go missing in the real time bounce . . . so, for that reason I've always had the habit of using real time bounce, since I use BFD3 in most projects. No, I have not tested recently to see if this issue still exists, because I have the time . . . and real time bouncing is my "ear break"

In BFD2 there was a setting on the main page which had to clicked/enabled when bouncing inside a host such as SONAR.
I think it was labelled "Offline" and it turned red when enabled.
 
Without this, notes were dropped randomly on export/bounce.
 
Don't know if there's a similar setting in BFD3 but might be worth checking.

Thanks B_Jonesey . . . for reminding me about the "Offline" feature in BFD3. Though, when I checked the manual
I think they're saying to only turn it on when actually rendering a fast bounce, it should not be left on during normal playback:
 
"Offline mode
This switch is intended for use with hosts that provide an offline (non-realtime) bounce or mixdown facility. When the Offline switch is activated, BFD3 waits for all data to be properly delivered from the hard disk before allowing the host to continue, ensuring that sounds are not cut off before their full decay is complete.
Please note that Offline mode is non-realtime, and should only be used during offline mixdown or rendering in your sequencer, if it even offers this feature. Do not leave the Offline switch enabled during regular realtime playback. If your sequencer only provides realtime bouncing facilities, you should leave Offline mode turned off at all times."

noynekker
Years ago, I had some issues with fast bouncing mixes that have BFD3 drum VSTi. Kit pieces would go missing in the fast bounce...

 
I have had a similar issue with Battery3. It's not always immediately obvious either. So to avoid such problems I tend to steer clear of using Fast Bounce.

I've never used anything but fast bounce and today, with new aux tracks and ability to render the VST instruments into a track easily, why wait for real time ALTHOUGH.... sometimes fast bounce is actually much slower, especially if you have audiosnap enabled and not bounced.  However, things can effect real time bounces like audio glitches in the room or whatever you may hear thats not actually opn the track.  Fast bounce removes any chance of that.   I alway print all my external work anyway to avoid having to recall the settings on HW in the future so fast bounce to me is the most reliable method and absolutely the same everytime