Interesting…
I don’t find Cubase limiting at all, just my imagination. If I need more slots, I just add a group channel to that track chain which doubles the slots, if really needed, and I don’t know why, add another group channel to the chain. Now you’ve got 24 slots per side. I would guess the possibility of signal degradation exists doing this sort of thing, as would adding a third party pluggin. Save the cash and buy a lava lamp 