I just received my KONTROL S49 today and want to know do I need a DAW in order to play plug in sounds?
it is a MIDI controller so you need some sort of MIDI to control
you can use it with any DAW
you can use it with Kontakt or Komplete Kontrol software in stand alone on your computer
you can use it to send MIDI to a synth with the MIDI in and out
basically by itself doesn't generate any sound.