We have a Cubase 5 VST/24 and a Cubase 5 VST/32 here. Were these released simultaneously and the 32bit floating point version was released separately? I wonder if that's the only difference between VST/24 and VST/32.
The difference explained by SOS:
"Although all three versions of Cubase 5.0 now support both 16-bit and 24-bit audio, such is the pace of technology that the flagship version has now moved on to support 32-bit floating-point files for recording, mixdown and export. If you have the best 24-bit converters your recorded audio will have a dynamic range of perhaps 115dB, but the benefit of the 32-bit float format is massive amounts of headroom for mixing. Overload is now nearly impossible as long as the master fader is pulled down low enough to ensure that you never exceed 0dBFS on the output to your soundcard. This also benefits VST Instruments, which can generate large transients.
A further option in VST/32 is TrueTape recording, which simulates tape saturation for those who are still convinced that digital is cold and hard. It operates at the point when a 16-bit or 24-bit recording is converted into the 32-bit float format, and its variable Drive control will generate subtle amounts of extra harmonics during the recording process, or up to 24dB of saturation if you want to overdose on analogue artefacts.
VST/32 also supports up to 128 audio channels, compared with the 72 of the other two models in the range, and it includes the famed Apogee dithering algorithm for final dithering down to 16-bit during mastering. This, in fact, has fewer controls than the dithering available in VST and Score, with just Normal and Low settings, along with an Autoblack button to mute dither noise during silent passages, and works by placing an algorithmically generated 'clump' of energy at around 22kHz. It is claimed to be more than just a new flavour of dithered noise, and the algorithm is used widely in top-end systems such as Soundscape and Pro Tools.".
Internal resolution in all versions is 32 bit.
Greetz,
Arjen
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep00/articles/steinbergcubase.htm