Hey Fred, The goal is to have 2 in, 2 out, MIDI, and maybe digital coax plugs. Although you covered allmost all the details there's one or two more important factors: -FireWire or USB? -Internal or External ok too...? If FireWire and External are ok, an AudioFire 2 from Echo is exactly what you describe above: 2 in, 2 out, MIDI, S/PDIF. It doesnt have onboard DSP... but I dont know if you really mean an onboard DSP chip with that..? It is "full duplex", but expect that from any soundcard these days, and it does 24bits@96kHz, 2ms on an RT kernel recording on a modest laptop. Due to it using FireWire, you need the FFADO backend for JACK. Check ffado.org for details & support levels. (The Echo is fully supported.) Its worth checking out I think, Hope to have helped, -Harry