Are you going to want to play live? If so, it might be best to go with the workstation, so you can keep everything simple and in reach of one keyboard. I was origanally going to go with your choice #2, but figured I could do sampling on a pc, and then send it to a keyboard with sampling and use its controllers, filters, etc. The trinity can do this as well, but it is still a little pricey. Price depends on what you would want to do, It might be worth it to go for the triton, but does any other company manufacture something similar but cheaper? In most instances yes.