I think I might have found what might be the perfect mixer for my setup, although I have not had the chance yet to fully test it , due to moving rooms and having to do some prep work before setting it all up. (Hence the question mark)
I wanted something with super flexible routing, great sound and plenty of I/O, so eventually happened upon the new Qu Pac digital mixer from Allen & Heath. Space is in short supply in the new room, so it would have to be very compact, which it is - at the expense of channel faders, but not really a big deal fir me since most of my āmixingā these days just involves muting stuff, and besides I can use my ipad if I do need to control the levels on it (amongst other things)
Since buying it I have come to realise that I can now do away with almost all my outboard, patchbays, compressors, fx, because it has fantastic fx and each channel has its own compressor, the flexible routing means that my patchbay is no longer required.
Also it has really powerful precise and great sounding EQ, stereo and multichannel recording and playback to USB drive, as well as tons of options for personalisation.
But the thing that really sold me on it was the fact that I can quite simply route things how I want to without any reasonable limitations, I also looked at a few others but overall the Qu Pac fitted my needs best and is made by a reputable company.
Anyway if you are thinking of getting a new mixer then I think the Qu series are well worth checking out, I actually think it was worth the price I paid just for the 4 fx processors, the reverbs in particular are superb.