In most live situations there are times I would like to add automation or change a parameter on the fly but where doing so would be too abrupt. This need can be mitigated by copying the node and adding changes on the copy then paste-replacing the copy back onto the original but this is finicky and not always seamless. I was thinking it would be good to be able to lock a node's output from changes (good for safety reasons too) but allow UI changes which will be implemented when the lock is released. An added bonus would be to interpolate the from the old state to the new state over a length of time, reset to previous state (to undo changes) or reset to default.
Partially related to the request for a preset system with interpolation which advocates for scene presets across all nodes within a scene.