I would definitely prefer hardware solutions to get my "lo-fi" stain on things but I don't have the money, room or patience for much of that. I could probably get better results recording everything through my old Mackie console but I don't think it would have the same effect as the pres and consoles being discussed here. Next big round of actual tracking I do I will likely be doing just that but then what of my soft synths and stuff? I'm certainly not going to route out and back in again (I tried this on my old set up and... well that did not work very well, lol).
I guess it depends on the type of music I'm doing too. Like if I'm doing some kind of dance groove or industrial synthy stuff I'd go for the ultra clarity and leave the CEs out of it. If I'm mixing my old punk/metal bands... well then that's where the "haze" starts becoming appealing to me (and likely the other band members and/or listeners). One of my favorite old bands was the Dead Kennedies. Their earlier work was recorded HORRENDOUSLY but there is just something about the feel of those albums that's just awesome to me. Once they started dumping more money into production I lost interest. Too cold sounding. Or look at Iggy Pop's Raw Power... Raw indeed. Old rock/blues recordings from the sixties. Love that sound.
I totally get what you guys are saying that after chasing the clarity dragon for so many years that after you finally get him by the tail you don't understand wanting to let go. I don't have that because I've mainly been a listener and a live player so the grit on the recordings and the overloud and distorted sound coming out of subpar club boards is what I'm used to and like. Add to that I just really don't listen to or like much modern music. I mean there are some great metal bands that I dig but the kick being reduced to a little "click", the solos sounding like they came out of a some kind of tone generator, everything completely isolated, EQd and squashed so there's no interaction of the instruments and don't even get me started on the vocals (those are vocals... lol). Now not every band is doing this. The stuff I've heard from Nile seems to avoid all that crap while still sounding ultra clear. Not sure who produced that stuff but he earned his money. Another band that has taken advantage of the newer clarity available without losing the warmth is Slayer (RIP Jeff).
It's that raw edge/warmth I'm after. The saturation plug option that was mentioned is something I've been using even back on Nuendo but those plugs only seem to go so far without crapping out like the signal is being ripped apart. On one of the Groove3 vids about production the guy is running things through the fancy big studio pre amps and he did an example of "smashing" the pre on some signals and it was the same kind of effect and totally undesirable (which he pointed out). So once that limit is hit on the saturation there isn't really anywhere else to go. The CA2A was a great purchase for me because it gets some more of that warmth/edge. Don't ask me how but it does but again it starts being undesirable after a certain level.
So in comes the CE. If I'm having a hard time getting where I want with those other options I try the CE on the track and start again. It seems that the CE will respond to those sat knobs and compressors and give me more of what I want from them. I rarely even tough the drive knob on the CEs. I just let them sit or I'll even turn the drive knob down more often than not. Sometimes I'll mix and match the different CE types on different channels so it's like using a different board for different instruments. That's pretty cool. Then I'll try it out on some of the busses where I think it's sounding a little too sterile. Less often I'll put it on the master because there are some things that I just don't think benefit from the CE like my BFD drum samples.
As always definitely not arguing and I totally get what you guys mean by reintroducing something that you spent ages trying to get rid of but I think it's a neat tool if you don't have any hardware or want an older kind of sound. I've had complaints from band members and fans about some of my earlier works (before Sonar) that it was just too clean and polished sounding. Gutter punks and pit monsters, as with many other things in their lives, seem to prefer a thin layer of grime and grit on their music. When I'm in that headspace I tend to agree.
Just some morning blathering to start the day but that's why I like having them around over not having them at all. I doubt I'll use them on the jazz stuff I intend to put together soon but they do serve me well in certain situations. Cheers.