Reply to Maschine - How useful?

I'm looking for a controller to aid production, don't want anything that pertains to DJing only.

Basically, my attempts at production have came to a grinding halt due to the slow and painful process of clicking and dragging etc. It takes far too long this way and feel that I'd be a lot more constructive with a physical tool that cuts out the mentioned grievances.

It doesn't have to be a Maschine product, but it strikes me as one of the leading products for this job. I'd like to be able to manipulate a production program with a tool that has everything laid out on it.

Do I have a terrible grasp of the technology, or does this seem like a viable option?

Who has one?

Does it help?