I don’t know if there is a trial version for Songwriter’s.
As it is just an extension, I don’t think so.
To make sure that you have 4.2, check out if there is the
“Perform”-button between the “Mixer”- and “Options”-button.
Bounce in place is a very handy new feature of Cubase 8.
Let’s say you’ve already recorded the MIDI out of GA4 and
now you want the audio files of the performance. You’ve
already routed the single signals (kick, snare, hihat etc.) to
the individual outputs of GA4, so there’s a channel in Cubase for
each of it. When you right click your MIDI event now and choose
bounce in place, you’ll get one audio track for each signal.
Standalone is the version of GA4 that you can use without a
Host Software like Cubase or Logic. GA4 Standalone has a
scratchpad on top of it there, that let’s you record MIDI.
You have to choose if you want to install it when
you install the VST.