You're right it tends to be mainly filled with people who come just to make one or two whining posts about something then disappear never to be seen again (and that's not an underhanded shaded dig at you personally, just years of observation).
I didn't answer your first query cos I got lost at the 'non-midi third party plugins' part, and thought someone else might chime-in.
If you can explain more about what you're wanting to control, maybe I can help. But bear in mind I never felt the need to upgrade from the Mk1 KL88 I bought years and years ago, the Mk2 works appreciably differently (and by differently, I mean Arturia stripped away most of the really deep configuration options in favour of pre-programmed not-very-customizable DAW control choices), so any help I offer might only be general.