VP,
I agree with pretty much everything you wrote and I am not trying to knock the MS-8. I just wanted to point out those concepts which were not totally clear to me before I got the device. It is hard for me to get a good handle on a device without actually working with it first. I would bet that there are others out there like me as well who would benefit from the easy rundown of the device.
As a computer programmer who creates plenty of user interfaces, I can easily see why they designed the MS-8 the way they did. They wanted to take a difficult, complex procedure and make it work for anybody. I think they did a pretty good job of it too.
Here's to hoping that the bitone and the MS-8 get it on.
Cheers!