So I've spent some time doing some reading, and I beleive that in the coming weeks I'll be ready to start my project. 
The plan is to have a 16channel motor fader board plus one master fader. By my understanding and calculations I will need the following: 
3x PIC18F452 cores - 8 faders max on each core, therefore I need three. Right? 
4x 2x40 character LCDs 
6x DOUTX4s 
3x Motorfaders (right? 8+8+1?) 
 
Here is where I am getting confused. I've crudely worked out that I need 6 DINx4s with the following logic: 
Since I only need a single master section, a 2 LC design doesn't need twice the buttons that 2 single LCs would have. 
And, as aach extra channel contributes four switches, an extra eight channels will contribute 32 switches. 
Therefore i should only need an extra two DINx4s right? 
 
Also, do these three cores connect individually or are they chained somehow? And on extension, how many LTCs will i need? One or three? 
 
Thanks for your help. I'll keep looking over Axel's posts while I wait for replies :P.