Q. "will this motor controller start where you left the speed at or do you have to start from 0 and got to a setting?"
A (my response). Where the soft start has not been disabled on MC-60 controllers, I defeat the soft start by throwing a drum switch (you could just a dpdt switch instead) between the controller output and the motor. Drum switch allows for reversal of direction and has three positions as follows: R-N-F. When I stop using the lathe in the forward or reverse direction, I stop the lathe by shifting it into "N". Then when I start again, I merely shift the drum switch into "F" or "R" without having a soft start wait.