Well… ones that usually go on sale anyway 
Rule #1 of VST’s - the sale price is the real price. Not counting the ahoy mateys crowd
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You actually do.
You have to a) route the audio output of the MIDI track with Analog lab and record incoming signal to a new audio track.
b) you simply lay down the midi track and that track is converted to sound while rendering the final track mix.
It depends on circumstances, but b) is the most used way.
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Oh. So you record them in the plugin somehow, and then add that recording to a track in your DAW like a backing track? Isn’t that hard to get the timing perfect on all your tracks?
Yeah. You can do (a) and it makes sense to sometimes (esp for live or when CPU will be an issue), but generally people do (b)
No. You add the virtual instrument to a track, and record MIDI input on that track. The recorded MIDI triggers the VSTi on playback and generates sound. The generated sound will be routed out through the project master and will be played in the project renderings just like a recorded audio track would.
This is how all virtual instrument plugins work.
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Okay, this is very confusing. Earlier when I mentioned that I don’t see a way to record those sounds in my DAW, you stated that you don’t record them in the DAW. Now you’re stating you do.
This was the very thing I learned since I got my Minilab a few days ago @PamPurrs. Essentially the free Analog Lab is a bundle of virtual instruments. I had to mess around for quite a while but eventually found out how to get my DAW (GarageBand) to ‘see’ the instruments. Once I did then I could create a new track and rather than using the GB instruments I’d select an AL synth and play it using the MIDI. A bit of a steep learning curve but now I can build tracks in GB using AL vst’s.
I’m not super bright but I didn’t feel that it was a simple job. The Arturia instructions were pretty sparse. Good luck with it.
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You record the MIDI notes. That’s the recording. When you export final track, the VSTi MIDI track is converted to the regular audio track.
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There is definitely a lot to learn. And its not simple.
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You create notes in a MIDI channel and use any instrument/plugin that you like to play those notes. In this case it’s Analog Lab where I have the Prophet 5 selected. In Ableton the notes looks like this.
Audio channels are for external instruments like my bass.
Yep exactly. With VSTi instruments, you record MIDI input on the track they are on. The MIDI is used to trigger the virtual instrument to play and output audio through the track and project masters. (Or in the case of @wellbi’s option (a), wherever else you route the audio out.)
So… at the risk of ruffling someone’s feathers (which I’ve been known to do), what is the practical purpose of going though this steep learning curve and recording all those cool synthesizer sounds into your DAW? I can see it would be tons of fun just to experiment with the crazy sounds you can make, but other than that, is there practical purpose to all this.
Asking for a friend.
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The VSTi you add to a track in the DAW is a musical instrument, Pam. This is how a huge amount of music is made today.
This is how I have done the drums and synths on every cover that I did.
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You can do stuff like this.
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So good
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I created my own techno music in the past (wasn’t very good but tons of fun) 
That’s why some of the analog synthesizers are so legendary. It’s the same analog vs digital story we have with bass.
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I was at his gig with the most over the top visuals etc. … nobody does raves like him atm. …
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That sounds like that techno dance music I used to hear in some of the nightclubs. I guess if you’re a DJ this would be a good thing to learn. Me, I’m just a lowly bass player LOL.
No genre limit at all
Jordan is the keyboard player for Dream Theater (prog metal).
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… Norwegians who combine live instruments and French house music full of synths, with virtual instruments you simply have a neverending palette of sound. 
And we cannot forget the holy robot duo of Daft Punk who released the most acclaimed disco record of last 30 years full of the biggest instrumenalist on the planet and insane amount of synthetizer goodnes.
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