My point, very tongue in cheek, was that there's a bit of an obsession especially in audio circles, that the way to glory is paved with "unobtanium". It exists in the guitar world (you MUST have NOS Mullards in the vintage Marshall amp), the recording world (my vintage U47 must have a REAL V14 tube), HiFi world (my speaker cable must be directionally placed and on Mpingo blocks). It great for gear sellers, but can be black hole for the end user, as the results rarely warrant the outlay. Technique is more important that most people admit.
I would even submit that if one were to give Alan Parsons or George Martin an moderately priced I5 or I7 computer, Reaper with a modest assortment of plugins, a Scarlett 18i20 and a bunch of sub $500 microphones, they would be able to create extraordinary recordings.
Yes...at the extremes, there is some snake oil being sold...but honestly, do you think that all the pros who regularly use what you call "unobtainium" are doing so just because of some misunderstanding on their part, or they need "shiny toys" so they can overcome any technique deficiencies with them...?
Let me put to you a different scenario...and I'll leave George Martin out of it since he's dead.
If you gave Parsons or any of the audio pros a *choice* between your setup above ^^^ and a pro studio with an API console and loaded with racks of high-end gear...which do you think they would prefer?
These guys want to work with the "state of the art"...because there don't want their technique to be in any way hindered by the gear if they can help it.
I'm sure many of them these days also have a DAW rig...and it's very possible they have a few of the same plugins that you or I use...and just like the hardware, their skill will make those plugins sing...but it's really about working UP toward the state of the art whenever possible...not the other way around.
We can all do that to some degree, it's really not "unobtainium", because many people have obtained that gear level or they are working up toward it, based on their desire, interest and budget...but of course, we all have different budgets, and you're not going to start off with buying a $5k preamp, and then thinking, "now what?". It's a slow progression over time, and the goal, IMO, is to always reach for the state of the art....rather than taking the "it's good enough" position, and just assuming that in time, technique will help overcome whatever shortcomings there are with the gear.
If you feel that you can replace all the top-shelf audio hardware with plugins...that's great, go with that.
I'm just not seeing the need to somewhat mock high-end audio gear use, almost from a point of envy...when in fact it's used daily in real studios around the world...and not the Scarletts or Reaper. (Now I'm sure someone will point out some name-engineer who uses Reaper with a Scarlett.
)
Just to be clear...I'm not arguing in favor of using only high-end hardware instead of any plugins. I've got tons of plugins and use them regularly...but there are times (during tracking or mixing, and certainly during mastering) when the higher quality hardware does something that the plugs never can.
If you only ever used plugins...it's hard to know/beleive that, and if you only ever used mediocre hardware, you're probably going to prefer the plugins.