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Hardware is just so much more tactile and instant
I absolutely agree with that, and while it's not necessarily related to drum machines, I find it so odd that there's a complete lack of MIDI controllers with enough faders/encoders to properly control a VST. I've got a Arturia Keylab Essential which has 18 faders/encoders which does a decent enough job (enough for 2 envelopes, filter/LFO control and and a small amount of per oscillator control).
I know there's a few companies that offer MIDI controllers in a form factor to pair with specific VSTs, I was half tempted to pick up a Juno-style one for TAL's U-NO-LX:
But it seems odd that there's no one (that I can see) out there just making MIDI controllers with a huge amount of encoders/faders that can be set to whatever you want. I was looking into Akai's Midimix which was decent at 24 encoders/8 faders, but it seems to be a surprisingly niche product. I'm sure if someone out there made a MIDI controller specifically for something like Vital or Diva, they'd be onto a winner.
Obviously, even with all the hands-on control, hardware still wins out on the whole pick-up-and-play aspect!
mmccarthy-
I have a Console 1 which has transformed my workflow when mixing - very little mouse action required, especially as I have a motorised fader/transport controller as well.
Lots of people upset when behringer discontinued their knobby controller but I think they’ve made a new one now?
Novation automap seems like a decent compromise but I’m not sure what hardware is available.
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Look at Faderfox.
Soundforce do make a controller for U-He’s Repro but I think Diva might have rather more controls… not sure if there’s one out there.
Dramatic_Hammer
Regal
TR-8S integrates pretty well with Ableton and if you put it in external mode you could control it with a MIDI controller.
I totally get what you're saying, I have Push with Ableton but I much prefer creating stuff out of the box. Hardware is just so much more tactile and instant than trawling through samples in Ableton