IMO the biggest issue with control surfaces in a
modern workflow is more in the implementation/support department, then in value of one in a raw sense.
Consider an S3. If it had full surface plugin mapping, you could map an EQ so you have gain on the fader, freq on the first knob row, and q on the top. You could have 5-6 bands and still have a lot of surface left.
If then you could also store a channel strip preset plus mapping, to where you could also map your favorite gate, comp, and even put some sends with send pans etc all on one "channel mode" flip of the surface. Then throw in macros, layouts, vca spill, and a small enough surface that you can stay in the sweet spot (things it has now) and IMO you would have something
really useful.
But can you do all that? No.
The closest I've seen is D-command (too big for me, but you get dedicated eq/dyn sections). I really like Softube Console One as well, and am eyeballing this-
https://modernidiots.com/
Not out yet, but if it lives up to the videos this will tick a lot of boxes for me, with a console one nearly all of them. It's amazing, and somewhat sad, that one guy working by himself who figured out how to hack into the MCU->Studio One control link might be the first to give us everything many of us have been asking for in the last couple decades.
To me it shows how overwhelmingly deaf all the Daw developers/control manufactures have been on this. The eucon team here has been saying custom plugin mapping (likely only 8 parameters for S1 and 16 for S3) has been "on their radar" for years now...