It is but then it's designed to be close to imperceptible. It's an interesting give/take. If you're trying to hide dither, perhaps close colors and 50% are the best you can do (and in the past on blurry tvs it would not give anything away, really) but if you're trying to both use it as a blending device and as a texture device and you don't want banding...
I think you have done too much to apply your definition of banding to the traditional 50% dither without taking into consideration the fact that actual banding has a distinct unappealing look to the edge of a pixel cluster where as the 50% dither ( if also done in a relatively solid pixel cluster) will never give off that same striking appearance to the edge.
Your distaste in banding is justified, and the definition that you have created is mostly just fine, but it just so happened that you made a connection to that definition with the traditional dither and you're trying to fix a problem that really isn't a problem imo. Eliminating the grid seems like a moot point as most of your work ( while made with the intention of aesthetically formed pixel clusters) often showcases the grid. I know different pieces have different purposes but between your signature and avatar, " eliminating the grid( the actual pixel grid, not in the way a banding edge duplicates forms and makes the grid apparent)" does not seem to be a point of yours.
Your pattern dithers are nice, but they are just that: pattern dithers. The traditional dither, while allowing for texture, is also a bridge between two colors and our ability to notice it as 50% one color and 50% the other attempts to make our mind perceive it as one blended color. Pattern dither always seems to suggest smaller repeating details such as scales or pores on the skin, and while this is useful in representation or stylistic render, it fails at the main purpose of the traditional dither which is to make two colors into one.
Edit: I skimmed over the last part of " as a blending device and as a texture device and dont want banding". My argument still stands that to you the 50% dither is only banding by your definition and not by actual practice, but I think pattern dither has always been the obvious choice if you wanted both texture and blending so it should be the go to anyway- but not for the sake of perceived avoidance of banding.