I think that whoever wins the last one should be able to decide the rules, but I understand not everybody has more than one SP. I don't see an issue with recording to tape---- if this is breaking the rules, I've been cheating for a while

I think EQ/Compression should be allowed in the final stage, because it doesn't have to do with the composition of the song...
About allowing outside drums/bass/syths/samples/acapellas on the other hand, you might as well go to MPC-Forums... as far as I can tell, they don't care if you do the whole thing in fruityloops.
If it were up to me, the rules would always be:
-2 samples (main and drum)
-one SP only
-No outside nothing
-digital or tape bounce, final EQ/compression OK