I have done some research and have found an audio mixer/interface combination device that I want to use to record a microphone. I have picked a few choices out in my budget range and have found a bit of a problem with them. The USB is not bi-directional, and the USB cannot be used for mix minus to filter out devices I don't want going over the mic. I want to be able to use this mixer for 2 purposes: mix all the sound together from my PC, microphone, phone, and any other devices I am using and monitor them in real time on the mixer and to export the microphone audio to the PC so I can use it to talk on discord.
This leaves me with one question that I can't quite seem to find an answer to. Is there a big advantage to using the USB output to get audio to the computer over using a 1/4" to 3.5mm adaptor on the FX send of the mixer? I plan to use the mix minus most of the time with discord, and I want to know if I should be budgeting more to get a mixer that can input/output through USB how I want it to, or save money (about $40) and get the version of the mixer that doesn't have USB at all.
As far as I can tell from the lack of information on this kind of question, it doesn't actually matter and either is fine, but asking a community of experts seems like a good way to save myself from making a bad expensive purchase. I have checked and the sound card in my PC will let me direct the outputs to make a setup like this work without USB.