Thanks Ray for that complete response.

It is a furniture/art project and as such the buttons/knobs serve a
couple functions. They make the critical controls accessible and they
provide some visually interesting mechanical parts (since all the
components will be behind nice wood doors.

I have no problem using an IR remote, but most of the remotes I see
nowadays have massive grids of tiny rubber buttons. Are there any
receivers you can recommend that have a remote with more intersting
controls (ie. limited sets of buttons and knobs)?

afinpdx