Yeh a GOOD mixer is a good buy ...especially if it has a way to tie into the PC with proper ports AND DRIVERS FOR DAW USE....
That is why I bought the allen and heath r16s...It was suppose to work with sonar x1...but, had issues with motherboard nics, and wi fi, and windows it seemed more so more of issues,...and was not totally working proper with firewire at all...and I got lots of firewire cards of many types tested with TI chipsets....still no joy, IRQ interruptions plagued the system setup...LSI 400/800 chipset worked best, and they then said that model in their known working firewire choices.
So yes, it is all about timing on buying into...FIREWIRE ADAPTER TO TB2 SOLVED, until updates occurred of windows 7...and then odd things with x1,x2,x3, and plat....moving me onwards to new machines..and new os 8.1...nic issues, so I bought a TB 2 audio Motu 828x...x99 and built that...pushed to win 10 to solve internet issues with onboard nic...
Is it supported properly?..TB2 went buggy...and the systems of x99 went down with win 10 screwing it all up!.
And in that, is a crap shoot hit and miss..
Sorry but it is true...we all have homework to do, always, if the base is changing...as things could change over night it seems, with one bad update, or something added into the mix causing new conflicts....makes it all futile, if not taking notes of what works, and what does not.
Right down to updates being buggy also, and plugins..and this or that for some but not others...and thus bios version, and or drivers/firmware put properly to either fix bugs found, or comply with new update versions of OS..by windows default Driver setup, when installing the os fresh, removing those default win drivers, and getting the proper new drivers from the cd, or manufacturers of said devices, when all is said and done installed without issue, and is working proper with devices not logging any bad issues or driver conflicts, or IRQ sharing beyond reason...(dependant on user and use, I would not share my audio device with anything)....You can then install software to use, that setup.....
Once it is all put right...turn off auto updates of anything wanting to do for you, and disconnect from the internet, and turn off internet nic...freeing up another IRQ.
And that system should run fine, if no issues of crash, or shutdown is made forced without proper shut down deployment.
But Windows still crashes from time to time, and corruption happens, still not sure why things just go that way with computers...So, be mindful to write it all down what you are doing and tweaking , so if it goes down, you might regain some setup, if needs be.
So a small note pad for each system, holding key codes and tweaks is a good method to take into accounts.
And Back it all up when it is properly working after testing it out for a few weeks of burn in!...try not to add to that much there after of anything new other than wave files or midi...and it should work for a bit of ..time.
Getting that is half the battle, and you might be locked into the update path ...never getting any bliss...but if you do....think about what I am saying...if you get that bliss, lock it down and back it up...so no changes occur at all.
And you be well, start sharp, keep reading up, and taking notes!...it might help others when you get it proper.
And you know I am waiting on that ...solved posting wth word and how to!
And I might come back to PC and sonar....and I might not..but others might try your solution if so works out.
Cheers!