Yeah, well I suppose I will be saving up for AA. I've picked up n-Track, and for the bang it's nice- though it's a bit 'buggy'. But after you get settled in with it, I think it works pretty well.
But the thing about CEP (AA) is that certain features are just better, like using envelopes. I haven't seen a better application or execution of this feature anywhere! They're very smooth and easy to manipulate.
The Editing is super-sharp, and that edit window is unbeatable. Dragging tracks in Multitrack is easy and accurate- no struggling. Laying-out and grouping whatever blocks you're grouping together is breezy. Configurable keystrokes...
I can do MIDI with n-Track, which is a rarity though; and I find the Mixer window somehow a bit friendlier to look at and use. Hey, dunno. So it's n-Track for recording and finding the 'mix', and CEP for arranging, editing. I don't spend near enough time doing music, so I'm not the expert I should be with this by now! But it's all getting reasonably comfortable.
Anyway, whatever I might go on to for apps, nothing will replace my CEP/AA I don't think.
The n-Track forum is also a great site, as far as being able to get ready help for whatever you have going on in the way of problems. A hip crew over there, very forward and pretty darned cheerful- and it's not a huge site or user-base I think, which makes for a good community. Like this one, I'm thinking.