I'm currently using a small mixer with a USB Audio Interface to connect my various pieces of equipment without having to fool around with cables. It works perfectly for that. I can route signals to either set of speakers, to/from my DAW or other streaming audio to/from my laptop, and switch between drums or any instrument plugged into my amp modeler via switches and knobs (see the diagram below).

But honestly, it's overkill. It has capabilities far beyond anything I'll ever need, and while it's small for a mixer, it still has an annoyingly large footprint on my desk.

I only recently became aware of "monitor controllers" and while I'm very unfamiliar with these, they look like they could be a better choice. They have fewer features that will go unused with the exception of the "talkback" feature with which many are equipped, and I might have one unused input or output channel depending on which one I try. They're also more compact than this mixer and will sit more comfortably on my desk.

Whaddya think? Is this a good option? Is there some other piece of hardware that I'm unfamiliar with that would be an even better choice?

I can only speak for the monitor controller I use - the original Mackie Big Knob. It's 100% analog, doesn't have any USB interface, and really no signal path going back to the computer.

My setup is a stationary computer, the Big Knob, a pair of powered monitor speakers and a powered subwoofer. The Big Knob takes the analog stereo out of the computer's built-in audio on the "DAW MIX" input so I can listen to music while I work.

I use two of the three monitor outputs to feed full range signal to the sub and the stereo speakers.

At times, I connect a super-old MIDI sound module to one of the two-track inputs on the Big Knob, so I can fool around with that, but there's no route into the computer. Just for playing.

I work (from home) at this desk and listen to music all day, but my job doesn't involve recording music, so it's for consumption only.

I don't think this kind of monitor controller is the best for you, since you likely want to feed stuff into your computer and if you take the USB-equipped mixer out of the setup, you need to replace it with an audio interface (with enough inputs to connect your stuff).

Whenever I want to record something, I connect my MOTU audio interface and bypass the internal audio in the computer. Don't know if there are other monitor controllers with sufficient inputs to replace your mixer, but IMO they tend to be more about distributing a few stereo sources to speakers and or/headphones.

Any of the ZOOM recorders have USB and you're ready to record if an inspiration comes along and you're not all hooked up to "record" on the computer. My Mackie is older & doesn't have the USB, so I go out of there and into the ZOOM H2 then into the laptop. The H2 has been my "notebook" since 2011. I don't know if this is any help but it's what I do.
Plus the ZOOM's are EXCELLENT field recorders and great for catching ideas verbally on the fly. I know most use their smartphones for that purpose, but I feel the ZOOM is more applicable to a musician. Stereo and if needed, ready to download via USB into WAV.
And the least expensive ZOOM is more than adequate...

Yup. Note that I do have a separate audio interface that I used before I started using the mixer, so that's still available. I could use the Big Knob, but the one I've kinda been looking at is the Behringer MONITER2USB. Another possibility is the Behringer CONTROL2USB which avoids the issue below (it has 4 instead of only 2 inputs), is only $10 more, but it has a larger footprint.

The only thing that gives me pause on the MONITOR2USB is that it looks like the USB input shares the Input 2 channel. I'm not sure how that would affect my recording, as I'd likely have the drum kit plugged into input 2 for recording, and would be monitoring the other tracks in the DAW output through the USB via the headphones. The CONTROL2USB OTOH completely side-steps that issue with 4 inputs, the USB only sharing the input 3 channel.

Thanks. An interesting option for recording.

I purchased Roland's Binaural mic/ear phones to use with my Zoom H1 Handy Recorder.
This is an amazing setup with outstanding stereo audio recording capability.
I was very impressed with the combination.

https://www.roland.com/ca/products/cs-10em/
https://www.zoom.co.jp/products/handy-r ... y-recorder

Fascinating idea. Not so much Virtual Reality as Virtualised Reality? If I have it correct, you are hearing on the monitor ear phones the microphone captured version of what you would have heard for real if you weren't wearing ear [s]plugs[/s]phones?

Edit to add: Ah. Maybe manually added BBCode (I tried to use 'strikethrough') doesn't work on Stickist? Or did I do it wrong?

You can think of it as a stereo 'hearing aid'.
Whatever I'm hearing in stereo is being recorded on the Zoom H1.
The quality of the stereo recording is extremely good.

@DavidWS - BBCode doesn't have tags for strikethrough as far as I know. You may be thinking of "Markdown" tags, which use a double tilde to code for strikethrough, but as you can see, it's not implemented on this board (and I'm not sure it's even an option for PHPbb):

~~strikethrough~~

Steve, a couple of years ago, I bought six Niche Audio Faders that are controlled by Midi signals.
These might be worth looking into. They don't make them anymore, but I got mine from eBay.ca

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... h-74538302
http://www.pmerecords.com/Docs/NicheACMOwnersManual.pdf