The problem with sliders for things like volume is synchronisation - if you slide the slider to max then lower the volume using anything on screen the slider will still say max. The way round it would be to have software/a driver on the computer and a motor to move the slider when something else changes it, but that's much more expensive and harder to do. It also limits the slider to one use where a knob can be used for different things on different layers.
Maybe a mouse-like wheel would look better to you? They are functionally the same as a knob.