from what I have heard the controller is crap....also the Mackie controller as well...
do you need motorized faders? Is it crucial to have a controller that does so much like the houston should? If not than get the Tascam US428...man, it rocks with Cubase SX!!! Complete and total functionality in every sense...you can assign all the function buttons(6 in total) to whatever you need...like I have mine set to..
Import Audio, Fill Loop, Export Audio Mixdown, Save, Mixer window and a couple of others can't remember off hand .....
it's really nice man....who cares about motorized faders and track names...You should know where everything is and when you select it it highlights the track for you...truly reccomend it
Opus

I have to agree with Gary that the TASCAM US-428 rocks with SX, but I must admit that I a bit jealous of the motorized faders on the Mackie Contol (or Houston for that matter). It can be a drag to reset the faders for every bank of 8, especially when you are working on (for example) a vocal section that uses 9 tracks! You have to keep switching banks and resetting faders...After reading through the documentation that Steinberg published for the Mackie Control (MC), my mouth started salivating immediately! It is USD1,000, which is a bit steep for my budget right now, but man...control of VST effects, VSTi's, the v-pots can be used as a strip...really cool stuff. Plus, the way SX works where the channels are no longer numbered is really a bitch! You have to go through and count channels to know where you are with the US-428...I have tried naming all my channels so they start with a number, like "1-snare", and "2-kick", but then as soon as you insert a channel or delete one, everything gets screwed up...

Once again, the US-428 *is* really awesome for what it does, but I am saving my pennies for the MC...it looks really sweet!

I believe the new Roland Studio Package mixer (7100 or some such) does have flying faders and 8 pres. On the other hand you can get the discontinued version for half the price at the moment.

I use SX with the Roland and it suits my simple needs

Thanks for all the replys guys. I decided to just get a Delta 1010 for now and get either cubase or sonar.