Part of the reason for starting this thread is to look at a growing trend, perhaps. There are ways to create an analog ‘FX loop’ from and to the same computer via two separate USB connections using two completely separate DAC and ADC and completely separate DAWs. However, it’s tricky. It’s also menacing to software such as SonarWorks Reference 4 if the sampling rates differ. In fact, Reference 4 just goes into a coma.
My chain goes (same PC):
Studio One → ASIO → USB/Benchmark DAC3 → Analog chain → CraneSong HEDD-192 ADC/AES → AES/MOTU 8D/USB → ASIO → Wavelab.
However, with more people using laptops or iMacs, and small form PCs PCIe interfaces will become a thing of the past (or, at least, less in demand).
What I’m interested in is the future of the analog chain for a DAW to master with. My wish is that eventually Wavelab could do this alone, but I haven’t been able to do that, yet. I’m told it’s not possible, but I’m genuinely interested in ways others may get around this.