I much prefer joystick. I also love the touch strip on my 4x.
Actually the touchstrip is a requirement, beacuse you cant keep the joystick in a position, while the mod wheel can be used for any vallue from 0 to 127.. Same as the touchstrip,
did anyone ever have a go with the 2 touchstrips of the NI komplete keyboards, they are quite multifunctional..
Also the vector stick of the Kronos is a nice tool...
Or the D-beam of Roland, which also is quite usefull
And then there is the x/y pad on some korg stuff
But probably the best controller ever was the trip pad on the Roland V-synth..