Just for the sake of information, there
are applications for consoles, but they typically revolve around large-scale music combo sessions.
For example, I work in a hybrid recording/mixing/post-production room that revolves around a console and DAW. The console is a 96-channel Yamaha DM2000 that interfaces with a Steinberg Nuendo DAW. In a large-scale session the two devices interface in two ways:
1. On the audio side, the console preamps are used for some of the mic inputs and flow to the DAW via direct outs or mixing buses and DAW monitor channels return to the console and go to the mixing channels. All audio data travels between the DAW and console in AES format.
2. At the same time one layer of the console's fader bank and the console's "FAT channel" actually control the DAW's automation via a serial bus. The DAW faders, mutes, and EQs are automatically mapped and I can map plug-in functions as well (but don't).
As a result, the console behaves like a large-format console, allowing me to adjust the input levels, the monitor levels, and the headphone mixes separately. Using the fader-to-DAW interface I can also begin roughing-in the automation for the final mix as the recording session is happening. But on simple overdub sessions I'll just set up the DAW with a pair of stereo output mixes, one for the control room and one for the performer's headphones.
I've been using this rig since the very earliest days when Steinberg and Yamaha were wrestling with making the the coding on the interface work. For the first year, during every session I suffered a loss of connection on the fader-automation interface that would have required rebooting the DAW computer to recover. As a result I learned to quickly and accurately draw my mix info on the screen with the mouse. Though the DAW/console interface was eventually squared away I didn't have time to wait so the mouse has become my main user interface during mixing sessions.
In reality, the average home user doesn't work with sessions that large or time pressures that short, so having a console in their way could very well be nothing more than a pain in the neck.
Bob