Reply to Newbie questions

I bought the VCI 300 to use with Serato Itch and have been using this for about 6 months. I am now exploring using TSP. I'm learning my way around the .tsi files in the other community , but would like to understand the physical setup comparison to the VC1 100.

- Since the 100 has no onboard soundcard, you need something like the audio 4 or 8 right? So the controller plugs in usb to the laptop, as does the soundcard, but do you go output of the soundcard directly into your amp, or speakers or do you have to go into a mixer also, when you already have your mixer on the VCI.

I'm curious to see what I would need if I were to swap out my VCI 300 for a 100 since I really want to use fx and things seem kinda complicated on the 300.

Now totally different question but if I keep my 300..and want to have a little more flexibility with fx....I was looking at the new NI Kontrol X1...but its not out till Feb. Is there other options out there? Midi controllers that connect via usb...since at this moment I have no midi input (as one would with the audio 8, going with the setup above)