It was either that or the AlphaTrack. Went with the latter and never used it
By the time you select the the track you're looking for you could have just clicked on the volume slider with the mouse... Personally I found it much much quicker with the mouse.

Thanks for the suggestion though

why are units with audio interfaces out of the question if you dont mind me asking?

Fair qn.
I already have an M-Audio ProFire 2626 with 2xADA8000's attached giving me 24 analog outs.
If I were to get a unit with an audio interface I could either not use the audio (which seems a bit of a waste IMO) or sell the 2626 and use the control surface audio instead.

However, if I were to do the latter i'd get the M-Audio Project Mix but that would only allow 18 analog outs IIRC. And then i'd need yet another device to regain the lost 6. Bit of a faff really...

Well you could always swap an ADA for the ProjectMix, which would lose you 4 outputs, but the PMix seems to be that much cheaper than the Mackie that it'd be worth it just as a control surface. I got mine for just over £600, including PT8, which isnt that far from your budget.

edit : ouch, Ive just seen how much they are now, so maybe not. they've gone up a lot more than I would have expected in a year or so.

Wow for £600 i'd have bought instantly and just wasted the audio section...

Actually no I wouldnt have as i've just discovered an issue.
I only have one firewire port so I need something USB based

Okay, that's pretty f**king dope

That's excellent. Might have to pick up a BCR2000
Do you know if someone is manufacturing that case commercially?

I'm looking for something expandable to at least 24 channels to control a daw software.

It may just as well have knobs for volume(that goes around and around), if there is a visual meter feedback with a stack of LEDS for current position. This would be so much cheaper than motorized faders. Mechanical is veeeeeeeery expensive.

The rest works pretty well on computer monitor.

If having buttons for each channel strip Mute, Solo etc would be nice.

Where is this unit?

I looked at Mackie Universal Pro which is expandable to 24 channels, but hey....it's €2800:-.

Above specs would be doable for less than less than €500:-.

Thanks

EDIT: Maybe prayers are heard:
http://www.smithsonmartin.com/kontrol-surface-ks-1974/

I don't know the price yet though.

Is this publicly available for sale somewheres?
Please post a URL.

oh if this were true

BCF2000 in Mackie mode.

It's from a thread on GS http://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-end-theory/332418-poor-ma ns-icon-big-box-bcf-bcr-2000s.html

An iPad, midi interface and a CCK running Lemur with one of the many DAW controller software would do exactly what you wanted. Mackie emu is what I use although I've been trying the C121 emu and I'm finding that more useful at the moment even with just the one fader (which u don't like afaik)

The Lemur interface updates to the bank of faders your controlling and has the track names etc so u don't get confused. It updates if you move something in the daw so not exactly 'motorised faders' but the functionality is the same IMO.

You can also mod the controller to exactly what u want.

iPad + V-Control Pro.

BCF2000+novation nocturn combo just does the trick for my workflow cheaply... (nocturn's rotaries work with automap, bcf for the mixing)