Jeff,
Yes and no. It's impossible for a submixer (let's use the correct terms here) to distinctly
address a specific input to a specific output on the main
console, beyond possible l/r panning, but that stereo or
mono submix it produces can be routed just as any other normal input would be. If you need further routing, of course, putting those inputs into a matrix would be the way to go.
In theatrical usage, however, it is the rare exception to need that sort of routing on the instruments that would be in a band submix. Not to say it doesn't happen, but it's rare.
Not to mention that the XL88 is only an 8x8 matrix, which doesn't give you much room for significantly more routing than feeding into a primary
console does, if it's a
console appropriate for this sort of use. Even some of the lower cost
Allen and Heath consoles have comparable matrices built right in, which feeding bus outputs from the main
console into an outboard matrix to mix with the submixer outputs gives you no significant advantage over, unless you're already out of inputs on the main
console (although then you have to factor the costs of renting the matrix with the costs of a larger
console,
etc., so the whole thing is a balancing act).
Also, with the flexible routing options available in the consoles typically used on major Broadway shows (be they custom-configured Cadac analog consoles or the new but more and more common digital consoles like the
Yamaha PM1D and DiGiCo D5), the need for an outboard matrix is often entirely negated. Then again, on consoles of those scale, submixers are often unnecessary, although you very, very frequently see multiple Cadacs on a show.
Also, many consoles have functions built in for linking multiples together so that each
console can access all the buses of the primary
console. I know that the 02R can do this, I seem to recall some of analog Yamahas doing this, and I even think some Allen and Heaths can do this, on the low end of the scale.
Matrixes are commonly used, of course, from the XL88 mentioned to Richmond Sound's AudioBox to Cadac's new digital matrix, for all sorts of complex routing, but even then it's more often than not only going to get a stereo (at most) feed of the
orchestra mix.
You have to remember that
theatre can be an even more complex beast than concerts; while both may have main stacks, center clusters, delays, and front or downfills, on a concert generally all the sound goes through all the speakers.
In
theatre, however, things get much more broken down, with
orchestra often in the main stacks or main and center only, vocals only in the center and front fills, and varying mixes of both in the delays depending on the
venue, all in an attempt to balance out the pit and the onstage vocals and to keep the vocals imaging to the
stage.
Getting back to the specific situation at
hand, however, which is not a large scale musical or tour, if he hadn't specifically mentioned that the
house console sounded awful, I'd be hard pressed not to recommend submixing the
orchestra on one and feeding it into a
channel of the main
console.
--Andy