I’m very much in this camp, however taking a closer look at the Helix family in particular has made me realise that Yamaha/Line 6 put a LOT of work into creating a user interface which is almost as simple to use as individual pedals. I’ve watched several demo videos where the “presenter” has just received the unit and is effectively working it out on the fly, yet they are able to set up patches quickly because it’s just so intuitively laid out. To be fair it’s never going to be as simple as a small board with a handful of analog pedals, or something like a Tech21 Fly Rig, but that isn’t an apples to apples comparison. To be able to match what the Helix (and similar systems like Headrush etc) can do in terms of number of available effects, routing options, inputs/outputs, you’d need a board the size of a dining room table for six. Example provided below