Most of the control surfaces are look the same as the mixing consoles, however both are totally different device.
Control surface is an hardware that has faders , knobs, channels and buttons which is same as the mixing consoles have, However it's function is to control the mixing process in most DAW recording software. it basically sends the midi information to the computer in order to control what inside the sequence software.
on the other hand, Mixing console is a device which allows audio signal to coming through the input, processed and then out put it to the speakers. It also have faders, knobs,channels and buttons, however these controllers is used to manipulate the audio signals that is flows through that particular channel.process of manipulating such as increasing the signal amplitude, by raise the channel gain, changing the tone by applying the 3Eq, and apply some external effect such as reverbs and delays.
on the other hand, Mixing console is a device which allows audio signal to coming through the input, processed and then out put it to the speakers. It also have faders, knobs,channels and buttons, however these controllers is used to manipulate the audio signals that is flows through that particular channel.process of manipulating such as increasing the signal amplitude, by raise the channel gain, changing the tone by applying the 3Eq, and apply some external effect such as reverbs and delays.
Most of the low cost controllers are mainly used to control the mixing process, however the expensive controller such as Digi 002 and Tascam FW1884 are DAW controller and also Audio interface. they have built in mic preamps and midi interface that is used for recording audio into the computer.
Dedicated mixing control surfaces:
 |
 | |
|
Control surface / Audio Interface
 |
| Cakewalk Sonar V-Studio 700 Recording System |
 | |
| DIGIDESIGN - Digi 002 |
 |
Tascam FW1884 DAW Controller/Audio/MIDI Interface |
Mixing Console
|
Professional Mixing Console (MX-802V USB) |
