I am using te Kronos for this..

I have made a combi on the Kronos for recording..
I have 8 programmable knobs and 9 sliders and 16 programmable buttons
They can be easilly asigned to DAW functions trough the midi learn function.
Also using the kronos as USB audio interface.

So why use a DAW next to the Kronos?
Kronos has no piano roll for easy midi edditing
Also its easier to record automasations.
And offcourse for VST's and a straight forward arpeggiator.

Recording itself works just as well on the kronos.
Next to 16 midi channels there are 16 audio channels(mono) in the sequencer/recorder.

The Kronos is definately an all in one workstation..
To bad all these companies fail to see that an arranger would als be a great tool in such a workstation.