LIVE audio best-practices
Have you ever considered mixing in analog? I think mixing down is one of the areas where computers still have not exceeded using the "old ways". I currently create submixes, 4 stereo tracks at a time, streamed out through the 1604 and into an older pc with a simple emu card in it. Doing things this way also allows you to take advantage of using a hardware compressor and whatnot. Some people use whats called a "summing amp", but they seem kind of pricey.