Hi
I was wondering what your thoughts are on why companies don't seem to be making MIDI keyboard controllers with in built audio interfaces so we can do away with the auxillary interfaces and leads? Apparently Akai does one but it hasn't got faders and knobs for DAW integration and weights a whopping 30kg. I know some Yamaha, Korg and other synth brands do, but they aren't really controllers for DAWS with automapping to controller functions.
Novation had several products that did just that, I think M-Audio had a couple models as well, but that was probably 15 years ago. I don’t recall the product names offhand, though.
There was also the Novation Xiosynth which was a value-minded X-Station
Also the later synths like MiniNova have this ability IIRC