I’m not too sure if this has anything to do with the os. It has to do with the properties of the hardware mostly and how the software works with it.
If you aggregate with two sound cards and remove one of those sound cards the aggregate audio ceases to function. = undesirable results.
But this is a normal behaviour, as this is like You would suddenly rip out half of Your sound card out of the system.
Exactly, using the mixer soundcard was the only option if you want to do switching.
If all that is being used is software than the players’ combined sound cards are fine
That’s a CoreAudio problem I guess from how it works. In Windows you have to use a device(s) native drivers to really do that reliably with pro gear. Plenty of ASIO drivers that allow multiples of their devices don’t malfunction just because one of them switches to another mode. Then again, Pioneer stuff, for instance, doesn’t have to completely reboot just to change modes.
Wow, aren’t you full of dynamics. 
The simplest solution is to use a mixer with a sound card otherwise become a better troubleshooter.
If your mixer’s soundcard isn’t very good, though, the mixer doesn’t even have one, or you can’t make use of the one in the mixer for whatever other reason (it’s firewire and your laptop only has USB, or the drivers don’t work with your newest OS), then using one in the player(s) is welcome.
How 'bout Denon making it work with one layer standalone and the other layer for software control and playback.
For Serato, in controller mode, an approved interface must be used.
I guess using the decks sound card would be a welcome feature it has 4 outputs after all.
As an option that’s not a bad idea, but right now they require a complete reboot of the entire thing just to work in MIDI.
Theoretically you could do quasi switching from standalone to software if the soundcard is active in controller mode.
You could just use one unit for the 4 out soundcard and another unit for the booting in and out.
That would be te perfect sollution for DJs changing from DJ Software (like Traktor/Serator/VDJ) to the Prima ecosystem.
Its a some inconvenience during set up and change over.
You cant daisy chain the players via USB if you are going to be switching back and forth between standalone and software
With laptops having limited USB ports, one has to connect via USB hub
I like the hot swapping between standalone and software as can be found in the MCX8000 and CDJs
I think it could be possible even if daisy chained. It could work if you switch the controller unit first to stand alone mode. Once stand alone mode is on air feel free to disrupt your software with switching the other unit over
Maybe worth to undust this area?
The Ni team is pitching 3.5 as a big update so we’ll have to do the usual wait and see.
Their latest user survey didn’t include questions about third-party hardware support, though.
Yep, seen it. They also got more active on the forum. Let’s see…