New mixer to replace mackie 24.4?

[Uladine]

I'm starting to get tired of my 24 channel 4 bus mackie. Its a great mixer but seems more geared for live sound. Having only 4 busses can be annoying, as I have to use the aux sends and stuff. The main dissapointment for me though is that since I usually do most of my tracking away from home (neighbor issues) I'm always having to pack it up, then set it up in a new location and plug everything back in (which takes forever). It would be cool to have a mixer that I could put in a rack and leave hooked up to a patchbay or something for quick setups. Having 24 channels is cool and all, but I've only used about 12 of the 24 channels at one time and don't see myself using much more than that unless I was running sound for a live show, which I don't have planned.

I was looking at those new digital mixers with digital recall and motorized faders and stuff. That sure would be useful, but are they worth the money? Which ones should I stay away from?

How about those Roland v-mixing systems? I noticed they just took a gigantic price drop. One system in particular that lists for $4500 is now $999. Are they worth that much? I'm lost.

I know my mackie has pretty good pres for a mixer, but I think having a more portable system would payoff since I'm always moving my rig around.