It’s just so strange that the inventor of ASIO and VST should have its flagship product limited to 6 freezable inserts + 2 non-freezable.
I really do think it’s a corporate culture thing. The measuring stick being, if Cubase can produce a little 12 track indie rock demo for a corporate video, for the project managers at Steinberg moonlighting on it, after hours, mission accomplished.
I still can’t help notice that those with more involved sound design needs, the signed, hardcore, professional electronic music producer using Cubase, seemed to have developed a laughably “destructive” workflow where everything is bounced again and again and again. Six freezable inserts is more than enough when it’s multiplied by 3 bounces.
These guys have even said on camera, in their tutorials, etc. that they like “committing” via the bounce, that it helps push them forward. They love to drive the point home by deleting the original track.
There is a whole “staying tight on the grid with audio” philosophy that has sprung up to further embolden the practice.
And so no one complains.
The project managers moonlighting with their band on the side: 8 inserts are enough.
Even after this small band adds “a keyboardist” to the group, the technical demands increase by one stereo track. With maybe a little EQ and compression on it (if that). Done. They’re never going to want more.
The attitude is further bolstered by professional audio engineers in the forums, again mostly acoustic oriented, who love to point out that “you’re doing it wrong” if you need more than 3 inserts.
These guys have never had to make a layered, modern kick drum from sine waves in their life. They have no idea how complex the sound design can get on each channel.
Then we have the hardcore dance producer who bounces after each edit, who is still on Cubase 5: 8 inserts are enough.
The European psytrance producers still on Cubase 5, on ten year old computers, monitoring the mix on 50 dollar multimedia speakers – veritable prodigies for doing so well with so little (and always proud to point out how crappy their setups are) – are never going to want more. They’ll still be on Cubase 5 in five more years. It’s like their rite of passage; of due paying. They’ve mastered the art of irreversibility of audio.
What a weird skill to have to be good at when we have computers.
It’s maddening.
There is no voice of reason in this fight, except this sad little thread.
I’d like to give in and join the crowd, just bounce after each edit and “commit,” but I’m just not skilled enough for that kind of destructive workflow yet.
What’s even more baffling is understanding why I cling to Cubase so much. I should be using Ableton or Bitwig.
It’s just I’ve been using it since the '90s (and yet still suck enough that I can’t “commit to the bounce”). 
I guess I shouldn’t quit my day job.