Ok wtf? Is this really needed?

[mostapha]

then again artists can make some serious bank from some major hit tunes that sell like hotcakes on sale.

I'm not sure I get the point of that. Most artists don't interact with D Controls at all…or anything else the studio spends a fortune on other than microphones and maybe a collection of big instruments that are inconvenient to travel with (pianos, drum kits, guitar amps, etc.).

It's not for the musicians…it's for the engineers who see several artists in a day, many of which either suck or aren't the engineer's cup of tea. Expensive recording equipment does give better sounding recordings…but a lot of it isn't made for that…it's made to save time.

If you were getting paid 5-6 figures to mixdown an album from an artist you didn't like (I'll go with Bieber to illustrate this point), would you rather spend several hours on each song setting levels and drawing automation with a mouse or get fast with an $80,000 console so you can get at least a rough mix inside an hour?

That's what they're for.

Plus…vagus mode looks pretty cool. I'll never forget the day we used an HD system with Genelcs to watch youtube videos with the console in vegas mode. Why? Because it was there.

[tekki]

..

So, basically my answer to the OP is a resounding "yes, it's necessary."

This plus 1000!