My first Hardware synth

Novation Mininova (~$500) vs Akai Miniak (~$275 used)

I barely know anything about synths, and I don't have too much room for like a 49 key synth.
I know the key's on the Mininova are "mini" but I don't play piano, so i dont feel a real difference.

I can find an UltraNova for $500 used.. any reason I should just "make the synth fit" into my studio?? Should I just skip both and get the UltraNova for some huge reason?

I wanna make sounds like Gesaffelstein and Valentino Khan; I would prefer hardware vs software bc I like having physical knobs to turn.

pretty sure Gesaffelstein uses the Virus TI2 which cost around $2K. but with the magic of synthesis hopefully you can achieve that kind of sound with any synths. I'm actually looking for a synthesizer just like you, confused between the Mininova and UltraNova. I wouldn't get the Miniak as it doesnt have as many buttons as the Mininova/UltraNova (because I really want as much tactile control). Personally I think its better to go right onto UltraNova as it has more flexibility on control, and if you can find it just as cheap as the Mininova I would go for the UltraNova!

I ended up picking up the MiniNova for $425. So far, easy to use, a comprehensive user's manual is included.
The knobs feel good, the menus are easy, the keys are WAAAAYYYY better than the MikroKontrol (Owned) and MikroKorg (played one several times), and I really like the matrix switch on the right hand side.

So far, I haven't found too much use for the "Animate" buttons but maybe I can customize the functions myself. The FX are very customizable but they sound just ok.

I'll be hooking it up to my Audio8 soundcard and using it alongside Maschine.

Question: Is it possible to have audio AND midi connected at the same time? I would like to be able to play a phrase, then quantize it in Maschine, then adjust additional parameters after I've played the phrase. Possible?