Hello my fellow twisted fans,

I have finally been able to start saving up to invest in some gear.  Right now I have very little.  I use Reason 4 rewired into Fruity loops to make tracks and samples and then sometimes Reason 4 rewired into Ableton Live.

I am still on a budget for a bit but right now I have a an older HP laptop that I plan on maxing memory out on and using to bring with me when I do live sets.  I do most if not all of my creating on my main PC which does as well need an upgrade but thats beside the point.

I was looking at getting a USB or firewire Mixer to control Ableton Live with.  I eventually would like to invest in a MOTU interface and a standard mixer with it. 

Can anyone recommend a good Digital mixer that will allow to mix 16 tracks with from my laptop and not have any lag or sound problems with it.

So far I have seen and might get this one Alesis MULTIMIX-16USB-2 16Ch USB2.0.  Its still kinda pricy for me right now but its the best alternative i have for the most available channels and not having to spend a lot on a new sound card.

I agree with you about getting a good quality interface. Also, a good pair of studio monitors (8”) with some type of room treatment is essential to getting a good mix. If you’re on a budget the KRK Rokits or M-Audio BX8’s are great monitors IMHO. As far as the 16 track mixer goes I’m not aware of any “lower budget” type mixers but maybe someone else here can chime in on that. If you can do with a bit less the brand new Korg Nano Kontrol is a hot item right now and the price is right. Here’s a link.
 

*Do you know how the routing works on the Alesis USB mixer you mentioned? I looked at the specs and Alesis website demo video but still am unsure about the USB routing.

Is it like this:Analog Instument/Mic>Mixer Inputs>mixer faders>USB Out(16 separate channels)>PC
Or can you do this: PC DAW (16 separate channels)>USB into mixer>Mix (16 channels seprately)>USB out of mixer( 16 separate channels)>PC DAW

Most of the USB mixers that I’ve looked at just use the USB to send and receive audio from the main outputs/inputs and not each channel individually.