Yep, I remember lots of frustration with the device panels back in the day. Something that could be so bloody easy is just way too cumbersome. Universal MIDI learn as an abstraction layer to any physical instrument with unlimited bindings would make this a doddle.
Basically, a save-able rack of unlimited MIDI inserts using Transformers: build your device’s list of MIDI CCs if there’s not a template already, naming each parameter appropriately. Now, right-click and learn the source knob whose CC is to be transformed. It’s now bound and your hardware is controllable just like a VST. Simple, easy, clean, instant.
Do I have to do Steinberg’s engineering for them, I often wonder?