About 20 years ago when I was in Chicago, we had an 8 track Fostex reel-to-reel that was hooked to a 2 track mastering reel. Somehow you could sync the two if needed.

We had a nice board to mix with, but not being able to save settings .. ouch
Sure you could get a really good mix set up and move sliders easily .. but the next time you wanted to work on it, it was a crapshoot if anybody did anything else in the mean-time.
Digital convenience for the win (IMHO).

I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!