I prefer having one knob per function too, but having the extra options for deeper levels that weren't even available in the old days, certainly doesn't get in the way, as far as I'm concerned.
I'm not sure the number of people who prefer analog synths is necessarily dwindling. Sure laptops, iOS and every kind of cheap digital product are all available now but just think how many MORE real analog MOOG synths are out in the world today overall.
Undoubtedly, the two markets intersect and in my case, it was actually a software synth - Urs Heckman's ACE ~ (which has an onscreen emulation of physical patch cords) that finally led me to dig in and start hankering after a REAL semi-modular and eventually buy my first Moog ~ an Electric Blue VOYAGER.
Once any of us experience playing a Voyager, I think it's hard to be satisfied with the sound OR interface of a softsynth. As for NEW digital breakthroughs ~ I love ANIMOOG, especially as a controller ~ but that cool glassy 80s sound* really reminds me of the KORG M-1. The retail price of a new Korg M-1 when it was released was about $5G which is more less the same as an XL Voyager today, whereas Animoog was just 99¢ + the price of an iPad. One shudders to think what Keith Emerson had to pay for his Moog but I think I read it was in the $100 G range? So naturally, money is a big factor...comparing so-called 'popularity' vs. access - and then again ~ the kind of popularity of what actually makes it on to hit records, and what people want to hear vs what they can afford to buy across various pro and consumer markets
*EDIT: I am actually really blown away by animoog again tonight, after doing some recording with it and the tauri ~ it sounds so organic especially through a fooger - but it's hard to separate the cold digital sound of it when you play it with an external keyboard vs. the sound you get when you play it's own slippery slidey ribbony touch surface like keyboard which tends to make it very organic sounding just in itself.
museslave wrote:By "anti-parameter," I mean that I prefer knob-per-function without parametric displays. I seem to be part of a once-large-now-dwindling group of people who want all functions to be immediately accessible— for performance, physical interaction, and creative spark. I prefer my synthesizers to be machines and not dots I see through a glowing window.
Good idea 
