While a DAW can do everything this console does (and a lot more) and you could model the signal distortion / treatment characteristics accurately so as to recre

While a DAW can do everything this console does (and a lot more) and you could model the signal distortion / treatment characteristics accurately so as to recreate the sound, the way you interact with it would be completely different. Which affects almost every aspect in how you use it. Besides, this thing was used with tapes. Editing when you use tape is an entirely different thing than doing it digitally. It involves cutting, taping, scraping and edits are destructive. Not to mention that you didn't have unlimited tracks on a tape.