Not sure if this has ever been discussed but imagine a hardware VST-I host. It would basically be very similar to a synth except it would have no sound on it's own you'd upload your VSTi's to the unit's HD or RAM, and just play away. I think it would look like a mix between your standard midi controller keyboard, and a phat.boy (or control freak). How feasible would this be? I imagine a couple of DSP chips and a small hardrive as well as some sort of host software built into a keyboard and a nice display, wouldn't be too hard for someone to pull off, the only real snag I can think of would be making sure the VSTi's would all be backwards compatable with the DSP chips, so you wouldn't need to buy specially made software. How awesome would this be, an ultra low latency, ultra stable, and portable (thus super easy to gig with) VSTi host, allowing you to hold several VSTi's in it's memory and call them up as necessary and tweak them on the fly. Think we'll ever see one? If we do I'm in for around $500 (maybe even a lil more).

well there is something similar to what your saying..but not exactly
www.creamware.de/en/Home/default.asp

Not to put a damper on your idea but it wouldn't be worth doing for only $500. What's wrong with using a laptop w/ that new Novation Reason controller?

Novation ReMOTE

I think it'd be easier than using a laptop cause A) How much does a laptop cost, B) You'd need to also pick up a low latency soundcard for said laptop, C) Computers crash when you least want them to, D) Factor in the price of a midi keyboard, then E) factor in the price of a midi controller with knobs/sliders. This is of course if your using a free VSTi Host program, but you could also factor in the cost of Cubase if you'd like. That's just off the top of my head, therefore I see my idea as being a lot cheaper, and just generally a hell of a lot easier than bringing a laptop to a gig. As a guitar player, if I had an amp that died as frequently as my computer crashes I'd certainly never bring it to a gig, I'd probably sell it or toss it out with the trash. And even for a grand this thing would be a steal (prolly out of my price range but a steal nontheless). I imagine the two actual hardest things in making this would be putting a decent display on the unit, as well as it's knob/slider configuration (plus you'd need a lot of both). I dunno myself and a friend of mine, both think this would be the best thing since bread came sliced. Then again I'm a bit strange.