Hi, I am new to this forum and am somewhat new to recording music as well. Right now I am working with one external synthesizer (plan to get more however), one drum machine (TR-8), and a PreSonus Audiobox USB interface (which I bought years ago before I had anything else). It has two mic/inst inputs, so I already feel uneasy running a synth and drum machine into its two inputs which I believe are line level signals. My first question is, is it bad to be running these signals into this interface that says only mic/inst inputs? Secondly, I don't like running the output of my drum machine into a mono input of this interface because I don't get to individually edit the instruments within my DAW. You can assign instruments on the TR-8 to 4 assignable outputs which is ideally what I think I want. I would obviously need a bigger interface with more inputs but I also have been looking at mixers that can be used as interfaces as well. You seem to get a lot more effects and control when buying a mixer and a lot of them accept line inputs which is what all my equipment is. My second question is, would I be better off with a mixer than an interface? How good are the effects that come with a mixer as opposed to within a DAW? Obviously you get what you pay for, I know, but I don't have any idea if they even compare in the first place. And another thing I often do is I like to write MIDI patterns within my DAW and send them to my synth via the MIDI out of my interface. I understand that most USB Mixers don't really come with MIDI outputs? Should I get a MIDI interface paired with a mixer or buy a better audio interface? If there are any particular models that you guys recommend that would help too. I would like it to be under $700. Thank you for your help.