A quick rundown through the years showing “unique features” that the manufacturer (supposedly) thought they were introducing into the market with their product in that year.
It is amazing to think that in the last 20 years, the Mackie MCU standard has remained the DeFacto industry standard and that the original product (the first Control Surface in this list) still stands up to comparison to the latest (ICON VM-1) and remains a valid choice of controller today. This is due in no small part to its robust construction and the completeness of the protocol used.
| Device | Unique Features | Yr | Web | |
 | Mackie MCU | Proprietary Mackie communication protocol, V-Pot control over software and plug-ins, tape-style transport controls | 03 | https://mackie.com/en/products/controllers/mcu-pro-and-xt-pro/mcu_pro.html |
 | Behringer BCF2000 | 8 precise 100mm motorised faders with excellent DAW control, illuminated buttons freely assignable to all MIDI functions, 32 user presets available with 4 encoder groups | 04 | https://www.behringer.com/ |
 | Yamaha 01X | Remote control power for DAW software and soft synths, complete mixing control with 96kHz sample rate, mLAN equipped for future expansion, includes interface customization software and VST plug-ins | 04 | https://usa.yamaha.com/ |
 | Mackie MCU Pro | 9 100mm motorized touch-sensitive faders from Penny + Giles, full-sized backlit LCD, expandable with Extender Pro and C4 Pro units | 07 | https://mackie.com/en/products/controllers/mcu-pro-and-xt-pro/mcu_pro.html |
 | Avid/Euphonix MC Control | 4 touch-sensitive motorized faders, 12 touch-screen knobs, high-resolution OLED display, EuCon protocol for high-speed communication12 | 08 | https://www.avid.com/products/avid-control |
 | AVID / Euphonix Artist Mix | 8 touch-sensitive motorized faders with OLED displays, high-speed EuCon Ethernet protocol compatible with Mac and PC, expandable up to 4 units for a total of 32 faders | 10 | https://www.avid.com/ |
 | SSL Nucleus 1 | 8 touch-sensitive motorized faders with LED collars and illuminated buttons, large backlit LCD display, dual function encoder knobs with LED indicators, EuCon protocol for high-speed communication | 10 | https://www.solidstatelogic.com/ |
 | Icon Qcon Pro Mk1 | 9 touch-sensitive motorized faders with LED collars and illuminated buttons, Mackie Control mode for seamless integration with music production software, dual-layer mode for quick change between DAW and instrument control | 13 | https://iconproaudio.com/product/qcon-pro/ |
 | Behringer X-Touch | Supports HUI and Mackie Control protocols, Ethernet/USB/MIDI interface, dynamic LCD scribble strip | 16 | https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0B1X |
 | Behringer X-Touch Compact | 8 touch-sensitive motorized faders with scribble strip displays, recording-transport and session controls, Session Navigator for quick control over track scrolling, marker navigation, and more | 16 | https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0B3L |
 | ICON QCON Pro X | 8+1 touch-sensitive motorized faders with 10-bit resolution, 12-segment LED meter bridge, dual 2×56 large backlit LCDs | 16 | https://iconproaudio.com/product/qcon-pro-x/ |
 | Presonus Faderport 16 | 16 touch-sensitive motorized faders with scribble strip displays, recording-transport and session controls, Session Navigator for quick control over track scrolling and more34 | 16 | https://www.presonus.com/ |
 | Presonus Faderport 8 | Same as the Faderport 16 but this time the more usual 8 tracks! | 16 | https://www.presonus.com/ |
 | SSL Nucleus 2 | 2 SSL mic preamps, Dante audio interface, talkback with output gain and -20dB dim monitor outputs | 16 | https://www.solidstatelogic.com/ |
 | ICON Platform M+ | 9 touch-sensitive motorized faders with 10-bit resolution, 8 dual-function knobs, jog wheel, backlit buttons12 | 17 | https://iconproaudio.com/product/platform-m-plus/ |
 | Icon Platform X+ | 8 touch-sensitive motorized faders with 10-bit resolution, 8 dual function encoder knobs (rotate and enter), expandable up to 64 channels with 7 extenders | 17 | https://iconproaudio.com/product/platform-m-plus/ |
 | ICON QCON G2 | 8 touch-sensitive motorised faders with LED level meters, dual-action rotary encoders with LED ring, large backlit LCD, jog wheel with shuttle function | 18 | https://iconproaudio.com/product/qcon-pro-g2/ |
 | AVID S1 | 8 motorised touch-sensitive faders with OLED displays, high-speed EuCon Ethernet protocol compatible with Mac and PC, works with Avid Dock | 19 | https://www.avid.com/products/avid-s1 |
 | SSL UF8 | Expandable up to 32 channels, high-res LCD TFT displays, RGB backlit soft-touch rubber buttons | 21 | https://www.solidstatelogic.com/ |
 | ICON VM-1 | Dual Coloured Scribble Strips,Mouse based plugin control, configurable buttons and expandability with custom extenders make this the top of the tree in keyboard controllers for 2024 | 24 | https://iconproaudio.com/product/v1-m/ |
Hard Work, Persistence and Passion . . . . 
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