Indeed! There is hope for the Control24 and ProControl. But having said that, most pros found the monitoring sections of those to be lass than stellar. I recommend a separate monitor/source controller. Dangerous, Grace and Heritage offer some very good options(with a price to match). at the bottom of this hardware, the Mackie Big Knob and Presonus Monitor Station are solid(but all the connections are directly to the back of the desktop unit). My personal choice is(for more than 10 years running) the Presonus Central Station with remote. All the connections can be done in your rack with a single cable running to the desktop remote.
Some caveats:
#1-if buying used or old stock, make sure you get the later version and NOT the version with the 5-pin xlr power connection(those power supplies are not available as a replacement part)
#2-when the volume knob(remote or main unit) reaches the lowest 15%, the image will shift right. This has happened on at least 5 of these for me, and friends that also use it. Its at a low enough level that its not likely to be an issue(just want you to be aware
#3-the talkback feature can be handy, but the relay tends to get scratchy after a while, so I would not plan on that being a long-term TB solution. I am way happier with a mic to an AUX track(sending to phones mixes) and using sound Radix's free Mute-o-matic plugin
This unit can do some great stuff, especially if you get creative. Example: I use the A/B/C outs for 2 sets of speakers with the subwoofer on C. I have a 3rd set of speakers fed from the CS monitor section(same as main outs, but separate) and I can listen to individual tracks(via a pre-fade send) on the 3rd set of speakers, regardless of solo routing and with or without the main speakers on. This allows easy listening to FX returns or tracks routed thru AUX tracks without dealing with solo-safe or any other crap getting in the way. and yes, I can also hear the main mix on the 3rd set of speakers
