I just got one (used, because I can't find any new for sale anywhere). I love it. The modulation matrix is frustratingly limited after the Prophet 12, though. Some of that I suspect will be helped by the Animator, but I haven't dived into that yet.
But the sound is gorgeous, and you can do interesting things to emulate wavetables just using the LFO.
SandyS1, after about a year, how are you and the Animator getting on? Has it relieved your “feeling limited” sensation you described previously?
Not really. You can do some nice things with it, but it requires quite a bit of fiddling to make happen. The other thing with the animator is that it locks you into sequences instead of modulations. You can modify that somewhat using slew factors (on anything except the wave, unfortunately, meaning each "wavetable" is heavily rhythmically stepped). You can do some envelope-type things, but again, it requires a lot more fiddling than just being able to route an envelope easily.
That being said, I still have it because the sound is just great. In that sense it's like a modern DW-8000: a wonderful hybrid with a great filter, even if it doesn't have the most modern sound design capabilities. I've also gotten a Quantum and no longer am trying to make the 002 become something it's not. It's still got great sounding oscillators and a nicely fizzy filter, and can fill in for many a classic synth as well as pull in some Ensoniq or PPG-like sounds that don't depend on wavetable scanning.
I found myself surprised that the Quantum doesn't overlap with it that much. The oscillators and filters sound just enough different that they don't feel redundant. I suppose if you held a gun to my head, I'd go with the Quantum, but I'd miss the 002.