I hear yah, I definitely don't have the patience for it. I tried to do recording for quite a while a number of years ago and it was never a source of satisfaction, it was just another source of dissatisfaction b/c I never got it sounding as good as I wished.
I think my buddy in another on/off band I'm in has that Tascam 2488. He pulls some really great recordings in his room with it, he doesn't have super hot mics or crazy mic pre's or anything like that. Last week he started an apprenticeship with an engineer in Detroit. Looking forward to seeing how good he gets, he's looking to career switch to this. I think it would be a difficult way to earn a living.