Well, that's an OK solution at best.
What sort of stuff is your eventual plans though? Guitar Center has some super sales breaking next week, so you might want to check it out.
I've done recording from the low end(think lower than what you did) to multi-million dollar facilities with up to 96 tracks and total automation for major label projects. Got bored with that and moved to live sound. Much happier this way, but still like doing recording from time to time.