complicated signal flow

at the moment ive got my decks and mixer setup and this is the "console" that controls everything. my mpc outs and synth are plugged into two channels on my mixer and the other two are for my decks..my mixer has two outs so one goes to the mpc to record and the other goes to my amp.the problem is that i have a bass guitar and a keyboard and a drum machine and everytime i wanna sample one of them i have to unplug cords at the back of the mixer and plug whatever i wanna sample in n it pisses me off..so i wanna get a litlle mixing console to control everything..i.e i want to plug my keyboard and synth and drum machine and decks and bass into each channel on the mixer..then i want to group all the channels and send them to a graphic equaliser then into my record in on my mpc..then from the mpc outs into my amp...do all mixers have the function where i can group all the individual channels then send them into the mpc via a 1\4 jack to record or will i still have to plug each channel into the mpc record in everytime i wanna sample that channel.and if i did the setup like this wouldnt i only be able to hear what im playing on each track if i was in the sampling screen because the tracks are going into record in???if this is the case then how can i setup it up so it works..i dunno im lost and i im rackin my brain trying to figure this out and its sendin me loco

All you need is a mixer with good bussing or sub grouping.

The 1604 mackies have it, as well as the bigger ones. basically you have 3 routing buttons, 1/2, 3/4, and Main. when any one of those is engaged on a channel the output will be sent to those outputs. For just a mono out you just pan left or right to just get 1 or two on a per channel basis.

You can even use the main as a routing depending on how you wire it. If you need more channels, I'd suggest a bigger board, a mackie 24 or 32, with 4 or 8 busses, depending on your cash flow (I wish I had a 32/ 8!!)

Other brands can be good too, just make sure the bussing is nice and flexible, where you can assign any channel to any bus.

Look into a patch bay, i got one for $55.00 bucks. This will help a great deal link your rec ins for the MPC to the back of the bay and plug in any signal you want to record into the front channels of the bay. I have my MPC linked to two channels my S3000xl linked into two and my computer linked into two. So what ever device I want to sample or rec into I just patch out from the mixers buses. A good mixer with multiple buses is a wounderfull thing but a pach bay will give you great control. If you have a mixer with multi buses and a patch bay you could record one signal to difrent soruces at the same time and thats just the begining