Help me catch up with technology

[Benmrx]

So I've decided to really give in, and embrace technology. I'm ready to spend some money on plugins and converters.

Here's the deal. I want to track and edit in PTLE, and mix on ...........? Most likely DP, or Logic but I haven't decided. All I know is that I want me some delay compensation with things like Duende and UAD-1

The idea of having to consolidate all my tracks (in PTLE) so they all start from 0.00 so they can than be imported into DP or Logic (or whatever) .......sucks

Is there any other way? I read so much about people using Logic (or DP) as a front end for Pro Tools....what does that really mean. Is that only with an HD set-up?

I'm just a little (or very) clueless on the idea of using 2 DAWs together, in particular with PTLE.

I figure there must be people using PTLE for tracking, and something else for mixing. Do all these people go through the process of consolidating 32+ tracks for every song before they can mix? If so, do you just set aside extra "consolidating hours" when planning out a project?

Thanks in advance