In my opinion, Console 1 looks amazing and I love that they integrated that. I for one would rather have the perfectly integrated workflow that the Console 1 delivers with its plugins (and in combination with the already amazing UAD plugins), than fiddling with a fader interface to try to make it work OK with a plugin it was never really designed for. I have had SOME luck in getting the Artist Mix to work with EQs in Pro Tools… And it sort of works… But takes so many button presses and so much brain-twisting just to perform a simple EQ operation, that I seldom bother doing it.
That being said, if Steinberg designed an updated CC121 or other hardware controller (like a continuation of the CMC series which I love) I would absolutely be interested in that too…
Also you could check out the newly released “NOB”, which maybe can be described as some intelligent version of the AI wheel on Steinberg’s CC121 and CMC-AI…?