I strongly believe that the Mackie Control is the best control surface on the market. Ive watched as so many others have been abandoned through the years yet the Mackie is still there. I have one of the very first Mackie Controls. I traded in a Logic Control for it. I have never looked back. No other CS is as natively supported as the Mackie Control. Most try to simulate it but often they don't have the hardware or the controls to do so. If you really want a good long lasting well supported CS there is only one choice, the Mackie Control.
I will say this because it is up to each developer to support the Mackie Control the support varies from DAW to DAW. What is implemented is left to the DAW developer. Therefore to date no one has come close to what a Mackie is able to do. I know this having had a Logic Control with a fully implemented Logic Platinum 5 to go with it. The depth of control is basically just slightly provided by DAW developers. With the Logic Control and Logic Platinum 5 it could control just about all aspects of Logic. I have not seen this in any other DAW. Believe it or not the case that is deserving of an exception here is FL Studio from Image Line. They put in the time and effort in and did a great job of letting the MC control FL Studio. It can be done. It only takes the will.
I know that they are not the most affordable and there are others that sell at a much more reasonable price and for those that do settle for something else there are good solid CSs that can do a basic job of controlling software. I don't have some smug attitude about this. It is up to each to decide what to get. Life has its own roadblocks therefor get what you can. However, never judge a Mackie by how others work. There is no comparison.