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After the negative but important experience with Mackie, I started to research more on how to mix OTB in the most effective and economic way, and found out I was not alone wanting my audiocard to pass through a bus that could give the dynamic and the proper thickness to the sound of the mix, without needing all the tools and features of a giant and expensive mixing console ...
A whole ocean of informations and tests is available online, to an extent which makes it almost confusing. Often I found myself even more undecided after too many hours of reading other people's opinions and zero time of actual “hands on” with the equipment that was discussed there.
The most common solution for small studios and DAW enviroments seemed to be the summing devices: like, save money on knobs, eqs, faders, sends, because you do that anyway inside your computer, and let the mixer do just one thing: to mix the sounds! The digital workstation is supposed to fuck up something while doing it internally, like if some informations belonging to the individual sounds get always lost during the process due, so to say, to lack of resolution (bits).
There's a lot more information on this topic on the web, here are just a couple of interesting pages to start to look at (these will save me to get too specific about this and will give you a clear idea on what this fuss is all about). You will also otice how even pro's sometimes tend to have doubts about the advantages of one or the other solution.
remixmag
soundonsound
emusician
Interesting. That really lit something somewhere in my head. It was possible also for a small studio to construct a discrete, analog, hi-end signal chain, that due to the reduced need (all the processing is done in the box) becomes easier and more effortable to own even in a smaller, home made studio. Just a lot of imagination and a good solid way of operating is needed, and once you know your tools and how to use them, it becomes easier to know where to look at to upgrade a small studio into a professional one: there are millions of offers for every preferred way of adding warmth and depth to digital DAWs. But there's also a moment for each of them in my opinion.
It's important to figure out which step to take and when, because in upgrading your signal chain you have to remember everything is connected and consequential: if you have a bad sound in your room, it doesn't matter which kind of audio card you have, it will always sound bad.
That's why, first of all, I think it's necessary to make sure you are happy with your monitors and the sound of the room. Before investing serious money in gear which is supposed to make your music become more serious sounding, you need to sit into a proper audio enviroment to notice and appreciate the nuances those upper class devices add to the sound. There are very basic tests to do in your room which will give you an idea if there are big issues to be addressed. I do not want to get too technical about this but already try to play some sine waves at about 40Hz, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000 at a fixed volume, and sitting in your listening position, check if the perceived volume of those frequencies is homogeneous, or some of them tend to disappear. Those central ones (100, 500, 1000, 5000) NEED to sound at the same volume, or it means you do will have some major troubles mixing in that room. Here's an interesting link that helps fixing room acoustic problems: http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
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I like these articles... more please!
thanks.