I do miss Portnoy's touch sometimes, but that is not about the actual music. I just love the Ytsejam stuff, covers, jam sessions, medleys etc. And I thought the production took a turn for the worse. I know people also have problems with the late Portnoy albums in terms of sound, but to me ATOE and DT12's main problems are actually the production (especially ATOE sounds lifeless and distant to me).
However, from DT I got this:
-DT12
-ATOE
-BTFW and a generally fantastic DT12 tour (I attended Amsterdam)
-Happy Holidays
And I love Mike Mangini's work and live performances as well. Different and more technical, but a blast to hear/see as well.
MP was involved in these things I enjoyed very much:
-The Grand Experiment (NM band, combined writing effort) of which I attended a show, which was absolutely great
-Two Flying Colors albums and a nice live DVD
-Winery Dogs and a nice live DVD
-New Transatlantic and, again, a nice live DVD
-Good post-Rev drums on a Avenged Sevenfold album before them jumping the shark for whatever reason
There are few releases featuring MP that I do not enjoy a lot. Not saying the above albums are all his work or anything, but he does often does leave his touch and/or has a nose for quality.
While the latter we would probably still have gotten with DT's break, I am happy we got DT's material along with it. And I am sure MP will continue pushing neat projects and new albums of the bands he is in. Just hope Liquid Tension is one of them.