I'm probably a bit of an unusual case here, I think. I use a combination of the Mackie d8b 24 channel mixing console and a software that converts between MCU midi protocol and the native serial comms for the d8b console (Blu Audio's D8Bridge x32 v1.1) such that the console effectively becomes a Mackie MCU plus 2 XTs for a total of 24 contiguous tracks of control at a time. I'm not using the console for audio at all, just as a controller. The arrangement provides 24 channels of meters, faders, pan, mute, solo, select, record enable, etc. plus transport control, jog/shuttle, etc. I'm still on Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 basically because everything works as it should and I'm not feeling compelled to upgrade the OS anytime soon. I also use the Frontier Tranzport and a wireless keyboard so there are lots of ways for me to control the DAW from up close or from across the room.