Let me preface this - I first and foremost, stand guilty of NOT typically doing what I'm about to suggest to you (but...I'm about to start doing it - I sometimes give others advice into pressuring me into following my own advice).

Firstly - I love that you're asking these questions; I am also looking for answers to these exact same questions, and would love to get the answers right here. I will also start researching these answers.

Secondly, I would recommend that you (or me, even) call Helicon, and get their direct, pointed answers to each of these. The beauty of quality customer support (i.e. a human being with blood flowing through veins that clearly understands the questions when posed in a 'native language' supported by that company) is:
- you don't have to spend hours to days reading through manuals to find a clear pertinent answer to your very reasonable questions; even with 'search', some of these questions involve product comparisons and support issues that are not clearly stated in any manual or website support forum

Lastly - even though Helicon will give you answers, they are somewhat biased toward their products and company goals. You will get a far truer perspective here, from people that have spent their hard-earned money hoping that the product will live up to its promises.