The Lighting Controller

I have relied heavily on the "DMX in" feature on the now discontinued interfaces in my own live production, and have used this feature as a strong selling point for several installs I have done. ( I assign fixture dimmer channels to external dmx faders, so I can adjust front of house and house lighting intensity on the fly, as well as fog machines etc. without using up my live boards). As I am preparing a new install for a church, I was dissapointed when I discovered the x-factor and express plus has been discontinued, but hopeful about the new midi functions in v6.30. Am I correct in understanding that I can accomplish the same results using midi? Also, can you, or anyone recommend an inexpensive midi panel with at least eight faders? -Thanks

There is a midi faders to dmx output patch, and a midi buttons to Live buttons option, so you can do now same things than with dmx input.
Moreover, we will introduce a new interface with dmx input, in September.

Regarding midi device suggestion, we can not help because we know only a few items which are certainlely not the cheapest items.