Hello,
Fisrt of all I want you to know that I have no tech knowledge and I am not english fluent. So, thanks in advance for your patience.
My objective is to build a hardware synth based on VSTs. The idea is to have a device similar to, lets say, the Roland JV 2080 or any of those bricks we know. This means that MIDI in/out and XLR out are a must.
The reason of this is simple. For many years I been playing those bricks without any single issue but I can not say the same about PCs.
I want to have one device to host all my VST Basses, in another one with all the VST strings and so one.
I know that many years ago there was a device called RECEPTOR ( https://museresearch.com/products/index.php ) that did something similar. 
I guess that a MINI PC and Cantabile software could help but not sure.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!!!