Yeah to get the best quality for the buck ('ding' for the buck) I
suggest applying the Unix-philosophy to everything digital (including
mixer controls and MIDI) but treat the complete analogue signal chain as
a single unit.
So an audio interface with included mixer (also known as digital mixer)
would be considered bloat from this view point, an audio interface with
included MIDI would be tolerable bloat, while a motorized MIDI mixer and
seperate audio interface would not be. Also, seperate D/A converters,
pre-amps and audio interface would be considered unnecessary complexity,
since the unix philosphy would not be applied to anything 'outside the
box' (ie computer).
Jack provides the glue.
Carlo