replacing native in-item MIDI cc with a reacontrolmidi CC generator is currently the only way to record/edit CCs in the arrange view. this has several benefits over in-item MIDI ccs, and a few downsides.
the biggest benefit is that you can use razer edits to move, manipulate, and edit track automation. this is a far superior experience to editing MIDI cc data in the editor.
tied with the above, another benefit is that CCs are not tied to MIDI items and ignore splits between multiple MIDI items in a track. this is a more practical application for CCs, because you'll never end up with multiple overlapping instances of the same CC envelope -- something that can easily happen if you're attempting to edit a curve across multiple MIDI items. there is never a time where you'd want 2 MIDI items with pitchbend on the same MIDI channel feeding the same VSTi - these signals are essentially monophonic, and should never overlap.
the biggest downside is that using ReacontrolMIDI to record CC as track automation results in REAPER
adding automation that you did not perform to your content. when you enable or record track automation, REAPER applies your starting value infinitely across your project, and any recorded automation carves away from this "default value." conversely, recording CCs is default-value agnostic, and REAPER instead refers to the last recorded CC data point entered -- this is the expected behavior when recording control interfaces: the data should stay where it was left, not where it was started.
yes, this means that you cannot record a simple fadeout without an abrupt "fadeup" being inserted ahead of your play cursor. there is no way to prevent this, and it's wrong behavior.
see this thread,
https://forums.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=252010
or as a TLDR, see these images: here is the behavior when you record automation. note the unrecorded content inserted ahead of the play cursor. (edit to clarify: i'm using automation items with the "background" envelope bypassed, but the same issue happens with vanilla track-wide non-AI envelopes as well)
and compare to recording a MIDI cc in the MIDI editor: no such content is added to bring the envelope back to the so-called "default value" ... this is expected behavior. the data stays where it was left until the subsequent value.
as an experiment, i set up an isolated MIDI controller in my locked shed. i moved one fader all the way to the bottom value, and left it there. it's been two years, and surprise! the knob hasn't moved back to its "default value" on its own.
automation data should behave the same way.
recording automation isn't woodcarving, we shouldn't be starting with this assumption of an infinite-length block of automation data out of which we carve our desired curves. automation should refer to the last recorded data point and leave it there. it absolutely should not be inserting content ahead of the play cursor.