This also brings up another thought. Joden mentions surround sound. I respectfully disagree with that though, I guess I fail to understand the point to that for a "working " musician. In any live situation who projects surround sound to an audience, heck even stereo can be problematic depending on the stage setup and such. Imagine panned sounds going to an audience that is dispersed far to the right or left. Even mixing for surround is rarely needed, as most music is listened to on stereo equipment. There is a place for it, but nothing that comes to mind for a "working" musician.

As far a internal or external sound card go there is no reason for external unless you are talking recording input needs, or sending midi to a synth. Just a working musician playing for an audience any good signal sent out and summed at the mixer with suffice, especially when you consider back ground noise, room acoustics, and PA dynamics.

With regard to recording most of the major brands have solid specs. There is nothing wrong with USB, and actually that is the direction most companies are going with firewire dying out. Far more effort and progress is being made in USB drivers these days.

HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini with 16 gig of ram, BiaB 2025, Realband, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 9 32c , Melodyne 5 editor, Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL, Presonus control app.