if you can get a good tone outside going in then you dont have to mess with the rest as much, right?
this means less daw time, less mouse time, less burn out... ? so there could be workflow benefit.
I think of outboard as old school tracking brainbuzz and albums mixed in a day or 9 days and no going back to perfect it.
reading the Glyn Johns book and its just strange they were knocking Led Zepplin I out so fast or all the Stones albums or BEatles Le It Rot album..at least he did the single GetBack/DontLetMeDown...and it was kind of done in such a simple way. No computer, no DAW. Mic Technique and all that tube engineering mojo...wow..great book, i mean they didnt have a lot of bass or anything as today...but it was all outboard and it worked somehow.
It would be fun to do about 4 songs without any ITB VST. Use the DAW as only a Reel to Reel, nothing else, no VST allowed..track old school (maybe some splicing and editing allowed). That would be fun.
get a nice tube mic, tube pre, comp, pultec eq clone copy replica ..my son was wanting to try old cassette multitrack recording just for kicks, hes never done that so its like a novelty thing. like making wine with your feet or ice cream with your cow instead of the grocery store, or maybe like driving to work instead of taking a chariot and wearing a funny roman helmet with feathers on it and a dress with a leather crotched underwear to protect the family jewels from a Ben Hur gladiator match.
anyway, you have empty slots in the 500 rack! comps and a pultec eq no problem. try some old school outboard recording see how it goes for you. im curious if you'll hear a big difference , some claim they do. I havent yet.