18 months down the line I am plagued by the same problem that you described. Trying to sync up 6 audio tracks while having to shift tracks so that audio can be heard on tracks 1 and 2 is mind-numbingly awful, as you have doubtless experienced. Was there ever a solution or viable workaround?
Hewlett-Packard Workstation xw8200
3Gb RAM
Avid Media Composer 3.5