... of this fully armed and operational Death Star!"
The plan was to wait til December, but once it arrived I started fooling with it... didn't seem so hard to run... plugged it in as a second interface... seemed even more logical... and then I had a couple of days where I knew I'd just be waiting around for clients and making calls, so I tore out all the wiring, swapped the new Tascam for the 02R, plugged it all back in (minus about 10 pounds of unneeded rat's nest), and stated passing real work-type audio through it. I've already tracked and mixed one entire piece and produced a set of Foley SFX for a game... so, Bob's yer uncle, about six weeks early.
Best of all, it actually did what I wanted... Sounds way better than the old rig. Lisa was in the studio this morning, and even though she rarely listens in the studio and tends to downplay any kind of gearlust, she was blown away by the accuracy and dynamic range...and when your wife can instantly hear the difference, you know it's real!
It also has a pile of cool productivity features, all of which are a bonus next to the awesome sonics. I got almost 12 good years from the 02R and 2408 rig, and I can easily see myself running this rig until I am ready to hang up my headphones for the last time. Sweeeet.