yo, you could also get the denon 5000 and it would be the cheapest path for you to get into itch. its a lot like the 4500, except you dont need to use your sl3 anymore.

but sound like your setup is all midi based w/ ssl already so moving to itch is not going to be vastly different from ssl. to me both softwares are great, but ssl definitely feels more solid and runs smoother on my macbook. both have been relatively stable for me. itch 1.5 has effects but you need an itch effects controller. ssl 2.0 beta has effects and its my understanding you can map them to any midi controller. not sure if the 4500's effects buttons are gonna work with ssl 2.0 or not.

overall though, if you are definitely going itch the v7 or hc5000 seems to be more flexible being though you get to use an external mixer, you can add more things into the mix, etc.

Interesting question about Bridge for Itch 2.0 and how that would work with the NS7. I would be more certain that Bridge would work with the XONE:DX but I don't think it would work with NS7, well at least nothing has been said about it.

Now, choosing the NS7 over retaining your current set up is all depending on what you really want to do. Simplicity of NS7 over flexibility of SL3+other mixer+Bridge? If you are really keen on getting the 68, then maybe looking into the V7s, if cost is not an issue, might be a better option.

There's nothing stopping you from using ITCH and Ableton right now with an NS7 or V7. You can feed audio from multiple applications into these devices. The Bridge brings a tighter integration of these two applications, and we're excited to see what people do with it.

Why do you feel The Bridge will require a 3 channel mixer? The Bridge currently does two things:

1) Lets you bring in Ableton as a virtual deck. So you can still mix/EQ etc the virtual Ableton deck, just like you do with a regular audio track today.
2) Lets you record your session as a multi-part Ableton project. For this, the NS7 is much better than the V7s, as the NS7 can record all the crossfader/EQ/etc moves since it has a built-in mixer. Whereas the V7 relies on an external mixer and will not be able to record your mixer changes into an automation track in the Ableton recording.

Furthermore, the NS7/V7 audio drivers allow multiple applications to use them at the same time. Thus, you can have ITCH running and also configure Ableton to output through the NS7's master out. And you can also have Ableton route its CUE out to the NS7's headphones by selecting outputs 3/4 on the NS7 from within Ableton. (Outputs 1/2 are the master output.) You may want to consider a separate Ableton control surface (APC40/APC20, VCM-600, etc.) to manipulate Ableton from while using the NS7 to control ITCH.

This is so helpful. Thanks!