outs, and ins..confused

[martinepiphone]

ok, when you have a soundcard, i know you run the outs from your mixer to the ins on the soundcard to get the connection from your mixer, but what im not understanding is how you use all of the outs that come out of the soundcard. the soundcard that im looking to get has 4 ins and 8 outs, i dont understand what sound you would want to send out of the computer from the soundcard, because arent you trying to record to the computer? i guess if someone could show me and example of how you use the outs on the soundcard, why a card would have more outs than ins, it seems like it would be more sensible to have more ins so you can have more options for recording, but i dont know much and that is why im posting this, so someone please give me a quick lesson on using the outs and ins of your soundcard
thanks guys!

 

[Jeyan]

More outs in a soundcard can be used to send different mixes out of the soundcard at one time. Also used when you want to run your audio signal through outboard signal processors. Usually the main pair goes to Studio monitors. So you absolutely need more outputs.