External mixer for Reason and similar programs?

[mariner x]

This is going to sound naïve; bear with me. I recently saw a live electronic act where a guy was using Reason or something similar on a Mac PowerBook, and had an small external ('real') mixer unit of some kind that enabled him to tweak the virtual mixer in the program. Does anyone know what this kind of external mixer is called, and can you recommend a decent one? Thanks, MX

 

[mariner x]

Anyone? Or, if such a machine doesn't exist, is there a means of plugging a stand-alone mixer such as a Behringer 502 into a computer so that the dials on it can be made to correspond with the dials on the mixer in Reason, Logic or a similar program?

 

[Schecterplayer]

Its called a control surface. Its usb connected and controlls most aspects of daw mixing im personaly using the presonus faderport. Its great.