[LAU] interfaces with electronic gain controls

[Chris Caudle]

Out of all the interfaces mentioned recently as working well under linux,
all I have looked up seem to still use potentiometers to set gain.  That
is fine for recording mono instruments or vocals, but for stereo or
surround acoustic recording I would really like an interface which allows
for very close gain matching between channels, or at the very least very
repeatable gain settings so that I can correct in post production if
needed.
Are there any interfaces which are commonly available and have either
accurate electronic gain setting, or stepped/switched resistors for gain
setting?
The new MOTU devices which are class compliant seem to, starting at around
US$ 1200-1500.
Is that just the price range I have to move to before that feature is
included?  I thought Cymatic Audio was going to have a 4 mic amp/2 line
out device for around US$ 500, but it was cancelled before release.  That
is closer to the style of device I am looking for.

The MOTU devices without network audio (USB only) seem to have the feature
set and lower price, but has anyone checked whether they can be used
without a proprietary control application?  The nice feature of the AVB
interfaces for linux use is that they can be controlled from a web
browser, so no proprietary application needed to set gain and routing from
a linux machine.
The webpage for one of the USB interfaces mentions a template for TouchOSC
which can run on an iPad, but I don't know how iPad software sends OSC
commands.  If there is a standard for sending OSC control messages to USB
audio interfaces perhaps it could be adapted to linux.  Any of the OSC
users familiar with whether that would be some kind of proprietary
interface, or whether  it should be possible to interface one of the linux
OSC applications to the MOTU interface?

-- 
Chris Caudle