You can use any desktop Dell, Lenovo, whatever. You will need a audio interface and try to get a good Intel or other processor.
Get artist, a cross grade, or a student discount version then upgrade when they have a big sale .
Parallel is blending in the dry non compression signal with it. I use it like an ott on some stuff. On a master I would probably use a multi band compressor over squasher but it depends what style of music. Roll through the presets and adjust to taste.
Don’t be afraid to try out quadrafuzz on kicks and basses too.
More synths or redesigns of prologue etc
Normally trippy bass music and I record and mix my rock/jam band…and a little of everything else
That is what I do normally. You can add a video track to cubase and sync.i start with some percussive clicks or a count so I can line them up good. This works great for most things . A song or short clip.
If you really want to make it professional to record video and multi-track audio with Cubase or any DAW, you need a clock sync between the video and audio sources. You can use a BNC clock connection, SPIDF or ADAT; one is master and the other the slave. All Pro video cameras have this capability and pro video mixing decks have this as well. Your Cubase interface should have this.