This is a tough one because we very quickly hit the limits of budgets: there are 4 classes of controller:
sub $400 :the nano-kontrollers and similar as well as the individual units in
the steinberg cmc range and the low end livid series
$400-$900: the livid series of extended
controllers, the steinberg cc121, JL cooper master fader
$1k-$5k: mackie, avid,
mixed logic m24
$10k+: ssl, avid high end, audient
you can put together your own purpose driven control surface with the
steinberg cmc modules
- 1 channel strip controller,
- multiple fader group controllers (4 per unit),
- 1 transport controller,
- a pad controller if you want that form of input (the pads double as allocatable buttons for any switch function in your daw),
- 1 or more quick controllers to add banks of 8 rotary encoders and assignable switches and so on;
see more info here
personally, I 'd be opting for something like the mixed
logic m24, which is similar to my tascam us2400 - 24 channels of motorised faders with rotary encoders and channel task switches, master fader, transport control - the us2400 is no longer made, so you might get lucky on e-bay or craigslist