13,
Good question, just had this discussion with someone during my workshop in Rotterdam over the weekend.
Basically at this point I'm not feeling I need anything analog to get the quality I want to achieve. There's enough great digital stuff around to cover pretty much all bases. That being said there still are plenty of analog devices that haven't been matched (or emulated) digitally yet. That is certain units have a unique sound you won't get elsewhere. I'd say though at that level its all about subtle differences. I did have a tape machine and used it to process samples, I still listen to that mix just to remind me what it did
There still isn't anything that replicates tape from what I've heard, and the harmonic distortion that analog can do well is not quite there yet in digital either. I think that's the last frontier for emulation, from what I understand it's a complex process. Whether or not it becomes emulated '100%' will be seen, economics of the market will probably limit it, although I bet over time the R&D put into existing products might lead to a viable solution.
I would say though don't sweat the analog debate, sure it can be nice, and its fun to use some of this stuff but it's not the holy grail anymore.
Analog Mastering Processors
Linear Mode
