MPC alternative output signal chain via mixer

Yo!
So I've read a lot about the difference in output quality for different MPC models. For eg. mpc 3000/60 sound "fatter" and "warmer" than say, the 2000.

I've been thinking of ways give the 2000 a few extra cheeseburgers and fatten the output up a little bit by avoiding the software step and throw some analog gear in between before it hits my soundcard.

Have any of you tried adding a good quality channel mixer between your MPC and soundcard? What are your signal chains like? Which gear etc?

Of course any signal that hits a digital soundcard will alter that nice analog sound, but there must be a way of getting a bigger sound before it hits my PC.

Any feedback/ideas would be appreciated, I've got an old analog 10 channel sitting around I'm gonna try out.

I think there are lots of options out there it really boils down to how much ure willing to spend vs what ure gonna get out of what u buy. Its worth looking into some older samplers as well seeing as how they can b had pretty cheap, now that may interfere with the workflow and slow things down a bit but u may get better results. Personally if we r talking about signal chains I sample off record thru an inexpensive phono pre into my eps 16 plus. Drums at 22.5 kHz, regular samples at either 22.5, 29 or 44khz depending on what I want from the sample. I usually clip a tiny bit on the way in for regular samples a bit more for drums. Then most drums after being chopped and manipulated a bit get resampled into mpc 2000 where I hit the inputs pretty hard, not to the point of full distortion but a bit depending on what im going for. Other samples either stay in the eps or get r esampled into an emu 5000ultra. During the composing stage I use a xenyx mixer, get an idea of the eq ing im gonna want. Efx I may want, and stuff on the emu gets tweaked quite a bit as that sampler has great processing and filter options. Then I ultimately track straight from the samplers to a roland vs 1680 for final processing and mixing.

So that's what I do, but im sure u can do other stuff like an old four track tape recorder or analog mixer as u were stating. I mean ultimately its about what fits ure budget and can provide the maximum usage for the money u pay.

Thanks for the response man.

At the moment it's trial and error and some experimenting. I've decided to pick up a cheap Tascam 8 track cassette deck to give my drums some warmth and add that tape-like saturation. Hopefully it's the sound I'm after.