Well, I think maybe its finally time to put Kinetic 2 to bed. On my new Windows 7 laptop, I'm having all sorts of very odd issues with it. When quitting the application, the Windows process often sticks around, and has to be manually killed in order to run the application again. And under those conditions, I've had some project files corrupted beyond recovery, and have lost a lot of work. I love the product, and have used it to create some monster tunes over the years, but now I'm convinced is time to find my next platform for groove programming. I've looked at VI's Maschine (especially the more affordable Maschine Mikro), and it seems to have everything I would need in order to effectively migrate my Kinetic experience over to it, but I'm not yet sold on whether I need a hardware controller at all. I do quite well with just the software and a well-designed step sequencer. Tactile buttons aren't really going to make things any better for me. I'm a programmer, not a performer. So does anyone else have any suggestions for where I should go to get the same kind of experience I've had in Kinetic 2? I'd love to hear from you. Thanks!

Take a long look at Ableton Live. I ignored it for years and boy do I regret it. It picks up where Kinetic and project left off and took things way beyond a whole other level. It is really easy, totally powerful and has a large community of users. If you have a lite version laying around install it and go on youtube and learn. You will be amazed. I was like all the things I wish that I had in a sequencer was already there all this time and here I sitting with a version installed on my system for years. It wasn't until I picked up a Novation Impulse 61 key controller and say the how deep the Ableton integration was until I started looking more into Live. Glad I did. Just scored a brand new full version on eBay for $150. 

I have also been using Motu BPM since it has been out and it is also very nice program but I starting to transition to Live for new projects. BPM sounds great but you have to use UVI libraries in it. Your existing hardware/software synths and effects can't be used with BPM. That being said BPM's effects and UVI's sound library are incredible.  

Chrisma, I gotta thank you for your excellent response. Sorry it took me so dang long to get back here and read it! I'm downloading the 30-day Trial for Ableton Live now, and I'm going to check it out. Looks promising.

Bitwig Studio also looks like it might be cool when it arrives.