Guys I have been recording for a while now and I am about to upgrade my setup. What I wanted from you guys is your valued opinions seeing that this board had been very helpful in making purchase decisions. I want to show my setup ( Now ) and what I would like to upgrade to.

( Setup Now ) basically
1. Beefy computer
2. Gina and Awe64 Gold
3. Cakewalk 8.0 pro. I have 9 but have not installed it yet.
4. Soundforge 4.5
5. Waves native power pack 3
6. CD architect.
7. CFX
8. Sureal / Reality Softsynyths (Great Too)
9. External compressor and effects. I used the compressor for micing before I go in.

I basically used all of this stuff plus some extras to actually complete an Album. I Premastered the project myself and sent the project off to the Hit Factory for a Final Master. Overall it sound ok, but there was a lot of things that I did not know made a huge difference in recording like, Panning, Bits, hrtz etc. The non panning aspect of my project really killed me. but anyway this is the route that I am thinking about going.

1. Upgrade to Cakewalk 9
2. Get a MOTU 2048
3. Get the Tascam digital mixer TM-D4000.
4. Run straight Digital from the Motu to the Tascam via Lightpipe or Tdif 24 channels.
5. Come out of the Digital mixer to another PC with a burner via Spdif.

What do you guys think about this. WS tell me whats diff between cake 8 and 9. I have always noticed that you are pretty knowledgeble.

BTW
has anyone tried 5.1 surround sound mixing within a PC environment yet. if so what hard and software was used.

Thanks
Cake