If you put these three statements together and do a little lateral thinking about Home recording.com, then the general tenor of the OP's question is valid, logical and sensible.
It is constantly being implied or directly stated by quite a number of members that really, the whole software/plug in/DAW via the computer kaboodle is the way to go. It's no longer mooted as the way of the future, it's pretty much seen as the way of
now. Numerous are the threads and posts that extol the virtues of all things digital. Many that try to fly the flag for singing in tune or recording drums with one or two mics and not sample replacing or just miking an amp when recording guitar etc are often snickered at or accused of snobbery. While one may say "that's a different argument", it's not ~ it's part of the same bigger recording picture. Analog, standalones, hardware, these are generally cast in the role of 'dated'. So often when someone posts a question asking how a mixer can be utilized into their set up, the advice is often "don't bother ~ just get an interface, a DAW and you're good to go" or words to that effect. The analog forum has been moreorless tolerated as the last dying throw of the recording dice, it's adherents seen almost as modern day Jedi knights in the original Star wars movie, an all but obliterated bunch of scattered loyalists to a once noble purpose that really plays no significant part in the present republic.
Many of the knowledgable have gone on record as saying that plug ins are a better way to go than their hardware counterparts. So with all that and more in mind, if you put yourself in the position of a noob or someone that lurks the forum, perhaps looking for direction in how to go about recording their music or voiceovers, if they go back over the last two years and soak up the multitudes of threads, there's a more than good chance that they will have come to the conclusion that Berbo espouses in their question. Whether there are lots of people still shelling out for hardware is in a sense a red herring ~ because the impression is that they are far outweighed by those that are fully digital and computerized. So for me, it's a more than valid question, do I need all that hardware stuff ? After all, there's some cool music being made by people on HR without it.
Sometimes, as human beings we can have this way of saying "the way
I do something, my chosen method and tools are the best way & tools" without
actually saying that. Sometimes implying something is far more powerful and effective than actually stating it.
