Topic: ADC or other improvements?

[Al Gain]

I can't believe all this great help I'm getting here.  Now that I'm delving further into this, of course, the can of worms is becoming a closet of serpents.  That is actually very cool, but I can tell if I had the cash, option anxiety would be killing me about now.  But let's just say I sold my house.  Or my soul (always a possibility).  For the sake of argument, and just so I know the range I'm dealing with, what would be the best compact mic I could get for field recording -- imagining (ironic chuckle) that money were no object?  

I've been doing a little research on my own and did find the Neuman 140s.  What about those?  (However, mechanical switching from one polar pattern to another is a very attractive feature in my case).  To answer the above, I'm using omnis because in my limited technical experience (3 years, around 50 or 60 MDs), they do the best job for me.  I am recording traditional music in the field in Brazil.  It is almost always acoustic, often involving wailing percussion, voices, sometimes accordians, little guitars buried under it all, etc.  Much of the time I am recording processions, so I have to pick up sound over a wide range.  (I have also considered trying wide cardioids).    There is however often one singer doing a call thing in the middle of the procession, while the rest of the people respond.  This means I have to do a sort of on-the-spot mix, as I have only one pair of mics.  I have found that it works well to get as close as possible to the singer; the rest -- chorus and percussion -- seems to take care of itself very nicely.  I've tried the cardioid capsules with my mics, but I found the sound very boxy and unnatural compared to the omnis.  They are also too focused for processions.  In addition, they appear to be much more sensitive to wind, a common outdoor feature.  That said, I have found the cardioid caps useful when I can't get close to the singer -- I'm recording Afro-Brazilian religious music, so I have to be a little delicate about where I place myself, and sometimes it's better to lose the music and keep the friendship.  Again, this explains why I am not stealthing (I can't do this without permission), but at the same time I need to keep it fairly compact and light because I still prefer to be as subtle as possible, and I'm on the move constantly.  Also keep in mind that this experience of mine is only with the SP-CM6 mics I mentioned, omni and cardioid elements -- Sound Professionals says they are basically AT853s in a small body.  

I realize my needs are very different from the majority of folks on this board, but any further recommendations anyone might have would be most appreciated.  

Sorry for my long-windedness and thanks to you all.