Need some advice for setup

[Unknown soldier]

OK, I've dumped my tascam MS-16 and Soundcraft ghost, mostly because it's counter productive to be a musician and run a tape machine and the ghost at the same time. Also, I had this fear of being stuck with old gear (I was lucky enough to make almost all my money back )

So now, my setup is simplier. Running PT with the Mbox and external converters, Midi with a keyboard and samplers, and have high end outboard gear - compressors, reverbs, etc. I have a simple line mixer, however I'm wondering what to get next for more fexibility.

I need approx 10 channels or so. I'm thinking of a 16 channel board like the mix wizard, Onyx, soundcraft, etc, or maybe a high end summing box for better sound. Does anyone run a small studio like mine with a summing box? I guess the levels would be controlled by the input gear, and could lead to mixing issues with keyboards and samplers not putting out enough juice...?

I could probably live with a $700 mixer as long as it wouldn't be a detriment to the sound...
What do you slutz think?