Track Rat:
The dual monitors are almost a must with a full DAW. One screen just gets too busy. I managed to pick up the 2 17" view sonic's at Comp-USA for like $153.00 each. Too good a deal to pass up. I would have loved to have had dual 20" ,,, but economics dictate.
The BLUE mouse is really a very fine mic. It's craftsmanship is extremely rugged, and you can feel the quality of this mic when you hold it in your hand. BUT.... It is a very colored mic. If your looking for faithful reproduction of a particular sound source, then this is probably not the mic for you. It has a lot more "reach" than many of the other mics I have, so backing it off the source a bit yeilds much better results.
The mic is Bright, Forward, and seems to jump out of the mix.(with perhaps a bit too much presence)
On someone with a deep, viceral voice that sings soul, like say Etta James or the like, it would be spectacular!!
The RCA is indeed a tasty mic. It takes a phemoninal amount of gain to drive it though. So a quality pre-amp is a must! I use an "Audix 35102" racked by Brent Averill to drive the RCA. This pre has 80 dB of gain and I can push 75 or so and still keep the noise floor down. Rugged it is not though. Typical vintage ribbon mic, nice highs, shimmery, clean, discrete.
Thanks for looking.