billy. powertracks plus cep is a good combo because they both have their advantages. powertracks in the midi area and quick laying of tracks and cep for its what i call forensic audio features.i dont want to push you but upgrading from powertracks 7 to latest 9 is dirt cheap. 7 is getting a tad old.
and 9 will give you lots of new features like vocal pitch correction and multi part harmonies. also both cep and popwertracks have their own unique effects built in. so youll have a huge pallette of fx. just an idea.
what you might do to save processing pc power is do a bunch of midi tracks in powertracks, render midi to wave. you can also use virtual sound canvas
for example. do you have a midi keyboard ?
if were me i would use powertracks for fast laying of tracks, and cep for mastering. best of both worlds.peace.