Oh my bad haha, used to Focusrite so I said MixControl, but I meant TotalMix, the RME version :-)

sorry, don't know why the smiley face posted twice. I also don't know how to delete one.

Thank you. That's what I wanted to know. Sounds great. Because yeah it's like I don't expect to ever use it unless like you said, I'm about to record a guitar or vocal and have to adjust the inputs.

Sounds good...

cool thing about totalmix,
is it lets you save 'templates' for a whole slew of different routings
 
plus, it lets you setup 'hot keys' with the buttons on top,
to do almost everything you do in totalmix..
 
so, for example, if you are standing at a guitar amp, getting levels....
and if you didn't want to sit in front of the pc monitor to setup levels in totalmix,
you could simply be dialing in the big dial on top and looking at the meters...
there is a lot of functionality on top of the babyface pro

Amicus717
The RME Babyface Pro, which usually clocks in at about $800-$900, sometimes cheaper if its on sale. Great converters, two decent mic pres, and the best drivers in the business (rock stable, low latency, frequent updates and long-term support).

I did this, and it is superb.  I do have a mid-grade purpose built DAW, but the combination is bullet proof...

So far so good... Strangely enough I did have one of my issues I was having with the Focusrite on the day after I installed it, but a quick reboot fixed it and it hasn't happened again since. And overall everything is so much more stable. I can actually jump around the song with it playing without fear of Sonar crashing! Imagine that... haha.
 
Still need to get a lot more time with it though to say for certain that I'm happy. But so far so good...

So after a little time... I've got good news and bad news...
 
The good:
- generally speaking, everything is so much better i'm not having latency related issues, and i'm not getting any crashes in sonar. i'm also just over all way more stable than ever before.
 
The bad:
- I am STILL having two of the issues I had with the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 2nd gen! So now of course I'm going to have to start with more troubleshooting (but seriously I have done SO much with the old interface already).
 
The issues I'm still having, and I'll start a new thread too probably but I figured I'd mention it anyway here, are really boiled down to two things now:
 
1) Every so often, mostly in regular windows audio like playing an mp3 in media player or a youtube video in chrome, but sometimes in Sonar, I get a glitch, almost like a skip. Sometimes it's fairly constant every 5-10 seconds, sometimes it can be once in a 3 minute video. Sometimes it won't happen for days (although really its almost every day that it happens once or twice).
 
2) Every so often (again both of these are completely intermittent issues making them hard to troubleshoot)... ALL audio... Whether it's from Sonar or Chrome or Media Player, becomes a garbled distorted mess. To be honest it sounds like it may be slowed down too like 1000x. USUALLY, if I go to Control Panel - Sound, and disable my audio device, hit apply, and then re-enable it, it starts working fine again. Sometimes if that doesn't work I go into the RME control panel and change the sample rate, hit OK, close, open it back up, change the sample rate, hit OK, close... And it's working again. If none of that works, I reboot and it's working agian. This happens also anywhere from a few times in one session to once a week. Totally random.
 
In January I did a full system format and reinstall, so Windows should be pretty clean. I do have some suspsicions that my video card or its driver could be causing issues... BUT I mean... I just was 100% sure it was the audio interface and replaced that... So I'm not rushing to replace the video card since I was obviously wrong (although I'm glad anyway to now be with a true professional interface).
 
Anyway, that's my story. Good news is I'm back to work on music finally with much less issues. Bad news... There's still issues haha.

On some systems, mine included, you just have to disable all other audio devices in device manager. I use my audio interface for all audio not problem at all as long as you don't try playing a 44.1 U tube while Sonar is open running in 48 etc. 

Well overall I've definitely been very happy. However I am still getting some of those wierd clicks/glitches in regular windows audio playback. Unfortunately I've been helping my mother-in-law move and haven't had much free time in the last few weeks for troubleshooting haha, and for the most part I can live with the clicking (but definitely not for the long term). It's so weird that it doesn't normally affect Sonar playback, just like Youtube or Media Player.
 
As for the coupon, it was one of those occassional 15% off $75+ that eBay does. I found it brand new, sealed so I bought it there. I usually buy equipment from Sweetwater too but couldn't pass up 15% off, especially since apparently the manfucaturer blocks Sweetwater from ever allowing RME products to use general store % off coupons.

nowadays half the people on ebay are actually stores, just make sure they have a ton of feedback and high seller ratings and you're good.

The RME Babyface (Pro or original) is an excellent audio interface.
Rock-solid drivers... can run substantial loads glitch-free at the smallest (48-sample) ASIO buffer size.
Obviously the machine has to be able to keep up with the load...
 
MOTU's AVB series, Ultralite mk4, and new 624 are also very good choices.
MOTU now has so many different models... it can be a bit confusing when comparing.
 
Lynx cards are also excellent low-Latency performers... but they're more niche (those looking for multi-channel digital I/O... or simple stereo analog I/O).
 
If you're near Fort Wayne, Sweetwater's GearFest is June 23rd and 24th.
That's a great time to grab a piece of gear.