...which is one of the things that makes me chuckle when I see people blathering on about the virtues of "DAWless" work; c'mon gang, I was doing that sort of thing as far back as 1979, and you're just NOW telling me how cool it is? Ha!
-- Lugia
Eh... I don't know that anyone is trying to convince anyone else that a DAWless workflow is "cool," just that people are rediscovering that idea and technology is making it possible without investing in a couple of Studer 24 tracks. Most hobbyist and project studio musicians younger than you and I had the limited choice between a computer and a Tascam cassette multitrack not all that long ago. Maybe a Roland MV8000 digital recorder if you were lucky. OF COURSE younger musicians adopted the DAW with unlimited tracks, virtual instruments, and plug-ins. Who wouldn't? More is better, right?!?
For some musicians, more is better. For others, it's not. There are some great options out there now for guys like me who hated the virtual environment and wanted a happy medium between Pro Tools/Logic/Cubase/Ableton/Reason/etc. and a Portastudio. I just picked up an MPC One, which you could argue is not THAT much different than a traditional DAW, but it kinda is. It's a much more immediate workflow. With Akai's new class compliant audio interface I/O support, I'll probably never turn my computer on for recording again. The addition of one of the new Tascam Model 12 mixers would make a powerful "DAWless" combo. That works for me, but I wouldn't say it's "cool".
And all of this "DAWless" power is now comparably affordable and doesn't take up much more space than a decently spec'd desktop computer. Again, not "cool" just different.