[linux-audio-user] [OT] Hardware: how many I/O channels are best?

Hello all, I received the RME HDSP Digiface PCI card I'd ordered, but for some reason they only sent (and charged me for) one of the two Frontier Tango24 8-channel A/D-D/A convertors I'd requested. So, this got me thinking "maybe I only need 8 channels of I/O, and can do the rest in Ardour". Many musician friends using Macs say they do most of their stuff in the computer nowadays. One guy said he'd probably not even have a mixer, just preamps, although how would you do headphone monitor mixes? I was wondering what people's opinions are on this: Should I get the other Tango24 while they're still going cheap, or spend the 300 pounds elsewhere? A long-term glint-in-the-eye idea was to one day get a CLM DB8000S: http://www.clmdynamics.com/db8000_frame.htm ...8-channel M&S-mic-pre/limiter/A-D for input to the HDSP, so giving 16in/8out, or 24in/16out with a pair of Tango24s. But is this amount of channels overkill for a project studio? I won't have even eight mics for some time yet, although I will eventually need to be mixing lots of recorded tracks. I'm also wondering that mixing like this: Ardour tracks--> D/A--> mixer+FX--> A/D--> Ardour--> D/A--> monitors ...seems rather convoluted; would it compromise quality or sync (comb filter effects, etc.) to be adding the extra A/D conversions? But I suppose that's how everyone records to ADAT machines with analogue desks. However, If I can do more stuff internally in Ardour, that's good. Trouble with that is, that I would miss the hands-on twistability of an analogue console where each channel's parameters are laid out for the tweaking. Can Ardour be used to route FX sends out of one ADAT channel directly to analogue outboard, then back in again? I don't even have a mixer yet, nor proper monitors, although the recent 'how to build a studio' thread helped lots: http://eca.cx/lau/2003/06/0170.html What I'd really like is a simple fader box with 16 or 24 moving faders, and little else, to save my mouse-miles when mixing. But all the control surfaces I've seen are either way too complicated (with lock-in unfree software) or don't have moving faders. Any ideas without spending $20,000 on a digital desk? Malc