My Artist is roughly the same size as a Les Paul and is reasonably comfortable to play in the seated position. I say reasonably, because it's flamin' heavy! Despite the Artist's age, it is in remarkably good condition with but two blemishes. Sadly one is a deep scratch on the top where it would appear a screwdriver has slipped. The second is a nasty chip on the top edge that has exposed the wood underneath the finish.
I also have an Epiphone BB King Lucille and the tactile differences between the two are quite noticable. The Lucille has a much larger body rather like Pedullist's guitar which in turn means the neck is raised more in the seated position. My right arm is forced higher to clear the bigger body on the Lucille. But the Lucille has a thinner and narrower neck than the Artist which suits my small hands.
However I much prefer playing the Artist. Occasionally when performing pull-offs on the top E (no sniggering at the back please), the string pops over the edge of the neck which is a bit disconcerting.
You may be interested in the Sound On Sounds review of the Terratec EWS88MT audio card.
Whereas I acknowledge that the 8-ins & outs is more than overkill for you, Pedullist, it does have the breakout box. It would appear that the break-out box can be remotely positioned to avoid the proliferation of cables jutting out from your PC. And I think that the price may be attractive to the Pedman too!
Hey, if you want to continue hammering the Audigy, that's your call buddy. Just don't say I didn't try to help.
And talking about habbits with two monitors:
At work in Trondheim and at my studio I use two monitors. Now, here in Stavanger, they only gave me one monitor, so I had to boot up my old, old, old laptop just to get anything done.
I need HR.com/BBS to be on one of the monitors at all times. It makes me feel complete...