Wasn't Ilok 2 considered pretty safe? Has there been a crack for those yet?
Furthermore: Of course it depends on the host. I don't know for sure, but a newer Intel i7 should be able to handle a few tracks with almost no latency. In addition to that I'm talking about the beauty of being able to tweaking the sound at all times. Meaning that the hypothetical VST would process a recorded direct signal, like every other guitar-software does. I love the fact that you can always re-adjust the gain, treble and so on at those plugins. Kemper-Sound with that kinda flexibility (it is possible... it's possible at other companies!) and hardware based copy protection for existing users.