if youre a hands on learner go hardware. nothing compares to the tactile feel of manipulating the sound. its also a little easier (for me) to understand what im doing rather than looking at a 2d picture representation of the synth on a screen
if youre not a hands on person definetly go software. you get more bang for your buck. be prepared to be frustrated for a while. itll take some time to really get the hang of the setup and how everything works together.