Yes, I also have noticed lowered activity of SC01 in the communities which I observe. I believe it's because SC01 is trying to visit more communities now and distribute votes more equally, so the idea is good per se. I totally understand the motivation of SC01

In practice unfortunately it makes people less motivated as on steemit there are maybe 100 accounts which can give the up-vote worth 10 usd + so if SC01 doesn't visit the account, it probably will earn almost nothing. SC01 is not a bot though, their time is limited. They cannot check every single post and up-vote all interesting contents. Maybe if all six steemcurators would have at least 5 million of SP to make their votes worth 20 usd minimum and if they were equally active, it could be easier. I understand it's not possible right now though.