Good DAW for KRONOS

[toohip]

I am researching a new workstation for home use and I'm about settled on a Korg Kronos X 61 key unit. I have a fairly new dell Studio with an i7 processor, 9 gigs of ram, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card, plenty of USB ports to include a 3.0 USB port. Also an older Altec Lansing 5.1 PC speaker system that kicks ass like no other (dual 6" woofer cab).

I am a lifelong bass player who has become bored with playing along to MP3's and stopped gigging decades ago. Now I have an urge to create music on a keyboard/synth. Within my span of life I've gone from Led Zep genre to New Age to Jazz..but recently got into Chillout/Lounge and it has me by the throat..lol

And now the question to Kronos users: what DAW program works well with your Kronos. I have read much good about Yamaha and Roland integration working well...but not much about Korg that I've come across. Any valid hands on experienced suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[SanderXpander]

DAW integration is not the Kronos' strongest points compared to some of its competitors, however the "old fashioned" method of using midi and audio recording works well enough and it shouldn't really matter very much. The Kronos editor plugin is quite nice and will remember which sounds you were using etc, its main drawback at this time is that it doesn't work in a 64 bit host, which is pretty much the standard in modern DAW production these days (and a requirement for using more than 4GB of RAM).

I'm not aware of any host working better than any other in this respect. Go with what your buddies use, if you can, that's often useful.
I use Sonar X3 Producer myself, and am happy with it.

One general bit of advice I can give is to get a dedicated recording soundcard. The X-Fi series is a lot better than earlier Soundblasters as I understand it, but professional recording is traditionally not their strong suit. This is something you could try out though; perhaps it will work just fine for your purposes.

EDIT oh and unless you're planning on actually delivering surround mixes, make sure you're only using the front speakers of your set during mixing or you'll go crazy from the phase differences.

[toohip]

SanderXpander: are you currently using YOUR Sonar X3 on a 64 bit OS? Windows 7?

[SanderXpander]

Yes and yes.

[ferchis]

I'm also using Sonar X3 Producer in Windows 7 64bits. I'm loving it!

[djcactus]

Not sitting on a kronos at the moment but I would suggest ableton, i really like the user friendly aspect, and recording a series of clips that can be brought over to an arrangement view is really useful.

Thats to say the very least, its just very flexible.

[SanderXpander]

Ableton is great for song creation!
Terrible for regular multitracking and take comping though.

[djcactus]

Ableton is great for song creation!
Terrible for regular multitracking and take comping though.

I could agree with that sentiment, i run protools for those kinds of sessions, though the midi has gotten much better over the years in ableton. Warping the audio is very intuitive where a second take or punch in would have otherwise been necessary

[jeebustrain]

Sonar X3 on Windows 8.1 works great for me. Although I've had no problems using it with Reaper under Linux in the past. And soon to be (if I decide to pull the trigger) Bitwig on Linux.

[toohip]

OK. Just received my new Kronos X 61 yesterday. Set it up today and I am so floored by the sound sets and the overall sound manipulation this board can induce. It's almost as good as a bottle of good scotch, sex and a cigarette ...lol Ya, I'm like a child with a new bad-ass toy.

I have so much to learn but what a great beginning of a new journey for me. Well, back to the general setup. Any good setup tips would be greatly appreciated.