Lost on side wrote:6 years ago I was discouraged enough by posters here, to not try it. But I wondered if now some developments had made it more feasible. Does that bother you?
Sorry, my post came across as snarkier than I intended it. If I had seen this thread back then, I would have said "go for it, it'll probably sound great and what do you have to lose", which is also what I'd say now.
As far as recent developments go, I'd also say that it seems to me that in the past few years, the sound quality of budget interfaces has gone up immensely, and while I usually use Lynx Auroras in my studio, I use the focusrite 2i4 and a mackie onyx blackjack for laptop recording, with totally fine results. Either of those, or something similar, are more than up to the task of receiving and outputting line-level signals for your purposes. I would also add that with a couple bucks' worth of 1/8" to 1/4" adapters, you can use any old computer, however old, with no special interface, as a perfectly good FX unit. Latency will be an issue, but likely a quite minor one, especially if you're mostly doing reverbs.
I like the UAD plate a lot, but I wouldn't invest in a UAD system just for that, unless you found a used card for cheap. I'd start with some freeware verbs(there are millions for the googling), or built-in DAW ones . My favorites, which are not free, but also not pricey, are ValhallaRoom (a very tweakable algorithm reverb)
https://valhalladsp.com/shop/reverb/valhalla-room/
and Type4 (an awesomely realistic/flavorful spring reverb)
http://www.genuinesoundware.com/?a=showproduct&b=28
Or, as was mentioned, Space Designer is pretty great. My DAW of choice is REAPER, and it comes with a convolution reverb, for which you can download gajillions of impulse responses from all over the place.
Good luck!