Hi everyone - I hope this finds you all well and making great music.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I inherited a Fireface 800.
I'm not much of a musician - I mostly just dabble. But now I have this very cool product and I'm hoping to grow into it.

I've read as much as I can through the forums and various manuals, tutorials, etc., but one of my problems is that I'm not very experienced with much of the basic terminology and fundamental workflow and signal path issues. Because of term and terminology, even if I could find the answer to my question, I probably wouldn't be able to tell it WAS the answer to my question.

I'm learning steadily, and I hope to continue to learn, but I'm stuck at an early point and need some basic advice that ideally won't take up too much of your time.

Please take a look at this diagram of my basic hookup.

[img align=L]http://www.flickr.com/photos/7884929@N06/4634462233/[/img]

I have an existing (pre-Fireface-inheritance) desktop setup with Realtek HD audio (onboard) and a set of older Creative Inspire 5300 5.1 speakers that are hung up in my computer room in a nice surround sound arrangement. Prior to the arrival of the Fireface, I used (and still use) the onboard Realtek HD audio to drive the speakers for listening to music (CDs, mp3s, Pandora, etc), watching movies, and playing games.

The Realtek HD outs (from the back of the computer) connect FIRST to the subwoofer of the Creative Inspire speaker set via 3 cables (fronts together in one 1/8in stereo cable, rears together in one 1/8in stereo cable, and the center/sub together in one 1/8in stereo cable), THEN the subwoofer distributes sound separately to each of the speakers via RCA mono cables.

My reason to describe that is to show that there is no direct connection between each of the speakers and the Realtek HD soundcard - each speaker's signal is mediated and distributed by the subwoofer. (though, again, each speaker has RCA out, so they could be used in some other configuration)

So here's my issue:
I see that a lot of Fireface users (maybe most?) run their speakers directly from the Fireface rear outputs, and I'm guessing that this might be the most desirable way to go - but because of the size and shape of my room (and a few other considerations), I'd really like to be able to keep the speakers in place and hooked up to the computer directly (i.e. not connected individually to the rear outputs of the Fireface).

So is there a way to send audio signals out from the Fireface into the computer (via firewire) and be able to monitor the sound using the 5.1 speakers still connected to the Realtek HD?

From my reading, Im not sure if this configuration CAN'T be done, or if it's just not the best way to do it.

So far, I literally havent been able to figure out how to get sound out of the surround speakers (via the Realtek HD onboard) when using the Fireface and my DAW (Reaper, but I also have Cubase).

Either I can select the Fireface ASIO connections, which allows me to only monitor using the headphone jack on the Fireface itself *OR* else I can select ASIO4ALL, which allows me to monitor the DAW's output using the surround speakers, but then I can't get squat from the Fireface.

I know, I know, it's indeed possible I'm simply too Noob-ish to live.  :-)

So, ideally, I'd like to do the "in-from-the-Fireface, out-through-the-Creative-Inspire-speakers-via-the-RealtekHD" route, but if I absolutely have to, I can do the "out-to-the-Creative-Inspire-speakers-via-the-Fireface-rear-outputs" route.

However, if that's the way that I have to go, then I have several fun new problems/questions, like:

- How do I get the subwoofer into the signal chain? Remember there is only an 1/8in stereo in for the subwoofer that shares the signal for the center channel.

- How do I get the subwoofer to act like a subwoofer? i.e. how to I get proper sub/LFO-ish type sound to go to the subwoofer from the rear Fireface outs? I realize thats probably a really stupid question, but please realize Im used to Windows and the Realtek interface handling all of my channel allocations (because before now, I've mostly used the computer and the speakers to LISTEN to music, not so much MAKE music).

- Will I be able to get features like "Room Correction" to work with the discrete outs from the Fireface?

- Etc, etc

That's about it. I realize I've just blurted out a lot of possibly inane questions, but I ask that you please resist the urge to tell me "you have no business with a tool like the Fireface and you should go away". If you feel like I've wasted your time, my hope is that you'll silently move on instead of expending even more energy yelling at me for how much of your energy I've wasted.

However, if you feel like you can help me out, or if you've also been down this road Im on, then I would really appreciate any advice, tips, or guiding hand you could give me.

Thanks VERY much in advance for your time and consideration.

cheers,
jim