I’m thinking of getting a workstation, and don’t know much about them. I’m willing to spend about £1500. The one I’m heading for at the moment is a Korg Triton, based on recommendation, although I obviously want to give it a proper workout before I decide to buy. Anyone here who knows much about this genre, and wants to make any suggestions, I’d appreciate it. 
When I set out to purchase a keyboard for my son, I asked my SO (an electronic repair guy) what to go for. Since he’s asleep presently, I won’t ask him your question, but would recommend that you contact the local repair shop and ask THEM:
The thinking is, that while some one who plays a keyboard may learn to appreciate or prefer certain features, these may or may not apply to you and your preferences.
However, all such items will require a certain amount of maintenance and repair over their lifetime, and there would be the difference. Some companies are slow to ship parts, others are more helpful with service related questions. There was even one (I can’t remember which) that the design made it more difficult to repair.
He does repair Korg’s. We ended up with a Yamaha (but like I said, it was for a teen).
hope this has some value for you. if you can wait til more like 5 pm EST, I can ask him directly.
I can wait. Ask away. Thanks very much.
ok then, some questions:
Do you play professionally? and if so , what setting and style?
how long have you played?
What are some features that are important to you?
help me out, please with the currency difference (can you give me a site or something so I can make the exchange)?
I want to play professionally, eg write music for computer games. I use it more for composition than performance, but the compositions are going to come out of the keyboard, so the sound etc is v. important.
Played piano for quite a few years on and off, but am fairly new to the keyboard scene.
Important Features:
1)the instruments have to have a great sound (most important = piano, drums, strings. Extras like great sax,trumpet,etc a real bonus.)
2)Effects need to be varied and effective. (reverb, etc)
3)ease of use would be a major bonus, as I’m a bit of a newcomer, but prepared to persevere for the right one.
Not bothered about great sequencer as I want to connect it up to Cubase on PC anyway.
Currency conversion:
£1500 = about $2000
Hope this helps.
Thanks
Well, I used to be really into keyboards, but I have been a little out of the loop the last year or two. But this is what I can say:
If sequencer and the such is not of great importance to you, why bother paying for a workstation? If you’re doing all your sequencing off QBase or whatnot, it might even be worth your while to get a decent MIDI keyboard controller and perhaps one of the better samplers or even just a rack-mount unit of the Korg. I have always been impressed by the “warmth” of Korg sounds, but have always leaned toward Roland for the synthier, punchier more video-gamey type patches. I myself still work with a Korg M1 and an Emu ESI-32 sampler. The Korg has lasted me 10 years without a single problem (just had to change the battery once.) The quality of their products is amazing, and I would wholeheartedly recommend them.
We use two workstations in our current rig: The first is an Ensoniq, and the model number escapes me right now. The other is our Kurzweil 2500, which is the bomb (are the kids still saying that?). They are probably out of your price range new, but I’m sure you can find something on e-bay a few years old.
Anyway, click here for pictures.
Damn! I’m going to bed now.
http://www.delta9studio.com/instruments.html
Scroll halfway down the page.
Per my SO : anything made by KORG is a quality product, Yahama and Roland also are quality.
The Korg line has a number of different keyboards, be careful in your selection, they do have some that are geared towards composition (vs. performance) have the effects you are looking for and seqencers etc. (keep in mind all of these terms mean something important to you and him, but are a foreign language to me).
He said, too, that KORG has a user help line to call and ask questions which (keep in mind we’re in the US) was 516-333-USER.
so, ask questions from your dealer about the features you like. He seemed to believe that the product was quality, trustworthy etc,
ease of learning ?? dunno, suspect from what you’ve posted that there wouldn’t be that much difference between the brands for you.
hope that helped (and hope it was worth the wait). 
It was indeed. Thanks very much to all who responded.