I think what Lynn meant by "demo mode" is that audio was cutting out, as some plugins do in demo mode.
My current project is all-MIDI, with 5 instances of Kontakt and 9 instruments, plus Trillian and Superior Drummer, for a total of 11 unrendered virtual instruments. It's pretty demanding on both CPU and I/O, but I haven't had any dropouts. Does that prove anything? Nope. Only that whatever your problem is, it's not universal.