not sure if you have heard of Trinamic's motion control chips.
they have stepper controllers and drivers.
the motion control chips are far more complex but have heaps of very cool features.
you dont send pulses, instead send hex commands from the mcu like goto this position, accelerate to this speed, change direction, etc.
it has internal algorithms that calculate a trapezoidal acceleration or deceleration profile on the fly.
also has encoder inputs for closed loop positioning.
also has anti stall features, accurate position, power saving features etc.
the chips are only $7 or $10 in the US, but from element14, its around $60 odd. very good value for money, but bit more complex.
not sure if anyone's used these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaCzp..._order&list=UL
http://www.trinamic.com/tmc/render.php?sess_pid=394
http://www.trinamic.com/tmc/render.php?sess_pid=152
been thinking of getting these chips.