Cubase does not specifically do what is asked. Cubase SX3 was designed to do it the other way around. The original post seems to be about sending a signal into the DAW and then back out to the console again. There will be a latency when you do that. That latency cannot be compensated since all the original tracks are "out of the box". Delay compensation works by delaying all of the tracks in a project so that they stay in time with each other based on the different delays forced by plugins on the different tracks. As of yet if you want to delay compensate tracks that are not in the DAW, you would have to have a lot of tight delay units so you could put one on every outboard track. Then you would have to manual calculate every track on the outboard system. Sounds like a real pain in the ass to me. Zero latency systems won't do it either. Zero latency in a software application is achieved by taking the incoming signal and looping right back out to your mixer BEFORE entering the windows and software based environment. There is a delay that takes place no matter what when you input s ignal through an Operating system and then again through a sfotware application, and then again when it is porcessed in that software, and then again on the way out of the system. When all of your tracks are on your DAW, latency compensation kicks in for you to keep them all tight. That only truly works though when ALL tracks are on the DAW since your DAW is not capable of compensating for tracks that it can't "see" (i.e. tracks on an outboard recorder).
However, if you were using an aux send from a console to feed into a DAW, the system headroom would be quite good which should allow you to lower your buffers and dramatically reduce your latency. Programs like Cubase will actually tell you what your SYSTEM latency is through your OS, DAW app and soundcard. You should be able to get this latency to 6ms or less with no problem. When you add an effect to a track though, it could increase that latency (by very small amounts). You would definately here a phasing if your DAW (in this situation) was running a compressor, or EQ, or any relatime effect. If you were running a reverb or a delay though this shouldn't be much of a problem. If you want to run a tap delay, only the first delay would com in slightly off tempo (whatever the system input + output latency is) but all other feddback are consequent echos would still be at the right tempo. Typically, this is pretty unnoticable to all but the most discerning of ears. With a reverb, if your inherent latency is 6ms, you could just subtract 6ms of the predelay and it should work just fine.
There are also hardware units out now that allow you to load VST plugins into them and run them just like you would a standard outboard FX unit. The delay in these systems is much less than a conventional DAW system. At this point though, those outboard boxes are still very expensive.
