Well, there are a lot nice controller surfaces out ther these days, and I have a few, so I can compare & contrast. The UC33 is best in that it has 9 sliders and 24 knobs which are fully configurable for any channel and controller #. It also has several buttons you can edit for note numbers but I rarely use these. Probably more useful for music applications, less useful in the studio for my situation.

I bought this controller before going to London for the VJ conference, wanting to show MIDI control in flowmotion. I went with this one instead of the 100 others on the market because its cheap, small, sturdy and most of all flexible.
The 4 bank buttons mean you have 64 (4x16) different MIDI controllers at your fingertips.

The rotary encoders work great (they are made by ALPS the best brand in knobs and faders) . Rotary encoders don't turn as smooth as regular knobs, every small rotation makes a little 'click' that you can feel.