I like the alphatrack for almost everything except controlling effects. It's not nearly as fast as a mouse for that. The resolution of the knobs in cubase is worthless, you have to turn them at least 4 times over to get them to pan one way or the other or anything of the sort. This problem only exists in cubase though, it's more than fine for pro tools, actually this thing is nicer in pro tools to use than cubase overall.
It's really nice to have transport controls when your tracking right there though, what's even better than that is the footswitch you can put in (I am sure the faderport probably has it as well) to record enable your stuff.
It's pretty quick to switch from track to track via the buttons on the unit. The undo button is nice as well, thats a smidge quicker than hitting apple + Z. Automating with this thing is ALOT nicer than mouse moves, although again sometimes you got to go back in and tweak things because you didn't get the fade right (but that's not an alphatrack issue).
The other thing I like and use a lot is the track pad at the bottom. Place a finger on it and slide it L or R and you move the play head a little bit, use 2 fingers and you move it a lot. It's nicer than using fast forward or rewind in the controls.
So I say yeah it's great to have but for alot of things a mouse is still faster (EQ and effects). Also just keep in mind that 13 of the buttons are dual function (hit shift on the faderport they do something else).
