After doing a ton of research into all the suggested devices, I think I’m headed towards a rackmount sampler, particularly the E-Mu E6400, because it has a hard drive and has good reviews. I think it should open up a ton of possibilities, particularly being able to sample and use my treasured presets from my Model Cycles without having to somehow marry it to the flight case, while also serving “VA” duties.
Any pitfalls I should be aware of?
Found my sampler. Esi 2000 with 128mb and latest firmware. Going to install scsi2sd and come out having spent roughly 300 if I can sell the floppy drive. Very excited, thing looks like a beast from my research. My flight case will soon be complete and I’ll be able to use the sounds I’m making on my other synths freely.
Hmm I’ve found the opposite. I find that software can’t really nail the sound of those 80s/90s Roland pre-XV romplers, and the bigger screen units i.e. the JV-2080 and JD-990 are a breeze to get around on (as long as you don’t mess with multimode)…
I swear this is true for every digital rack synth made by Roland since the late '80s.
The great thing is with how most people record in DAWs these days it’s completely unneccesary, and we can use legacy synths monotimbrally as the gods intended.
Speak for yourself 
I prefer to write my songs entirely off the computer with Pyramid. Not a cheap piece of kit, but one of my best decisions ever…
Hey I’m all for out-of-the-box jamming and recording, but I doubt most people on this forum are using synth modules like they used to in the general midi days and recording the clav, slap bass and rock drum kits in one go
Also for the record, I do all my sequencing and writing in hardware (mostly Elektron) as well, just recording audio into the computer one track at a time.
To me, that’s the only way to go 
Go stereo mix or go home!!
In all seriousness though, you do have to record each part of most multitimbral devices separately anyway since most of them don’t have multiple audio outs.
To add: I “group” some things though. General MIDI type chromatics can go together, bass vs treble…
Well the JV and JD series mostly do, but the problem is everything sounding different because of the internal effects processing being re-allocated, midi channel annoyances etc.
Ah, yeah, I pretty much treat effects in the studio as “preview” mode like in a 3D modeling app. Don’t mind having to re-do it in DAW, easier and more control there anyway. I love that I’m not tempted to endlessly tweak the effects while I’m supposed to be writing
I don’t know… a lot of old devices that are hard to program, effects are mediocre, micro q is a nice synth but I would look into the MC-101 because it has a lot of sounds and probably many of the 1080, 4x multi, just don’t use the sequencer in it 
I looked at MC-101, and thought it could be good, but they’re not cheap. Plus it can only sample from USB. I tend to like old-school sounds over modern, anyway.
One thing that just popped into my head, is there a good “EOS” editor on PC? Can Midi Quest do it?
Don’t buy any of those, I want all the TX81Zs, VZs and D550s for myself! Actually I am considering going to Japan and coming back with a flightcase full of tx81zs and d550s, the prices still seem reasonable there. check yahoo auctions, sometimes they ship to other countries from there.