I use to play in a live electronic band (mstrkft-ish beats), and have experience with both microkorg, and the micron.
I personally liked the micron more because it sounded phat, and had pretty sick leads. It was also easy to use - sounds seemed more update version of a virtual analog - the microkorg was more gritty and modeled more of a old school analog.
I've been a hardware head, and i think VST's have finally caught up with hardware. The thing the hardware has over vst is its reliability. You turn it on, and it works every-time, no need to route midi channels ect ect.... I think the two can really compliment each other.
i think with the maschiene update you can sequence any hardware to now... so if the next upgrade of komplete works with it, u will have a full blown setup with hardware, vst and mpc style beat sequencing.