I totally forgot about the software side hit. I bought the izotope tonal bundle and the soundtoys bundle. The tonal bundle is the single best bundle out there for mixing. You really don’t need anything else. On the effect side soundtoys doesn’t need any mentioning. Legit.
Sold a lot of gear in 2018 before relocating this year to london and finally having a room for studio. Bought some ace gear, including:
Mastersounds R4V
SSL FUSION
SSL SIX
Manley elop+
Tascam da3000
2000 gold top r7
But the winner I think is the /13 guitar amp I picked up. It has miraculously cured guitar gas which was an issue. I cut my electric collection to two r7s. With a jhs unicorn and ethos overdrive it gives exactly the clean and dirty sounds I hear in my head.
My studio looks chipper for 2020.
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Got the DSI Pro 2 at the very beginning of the year… my immediate reaction was it was nice but I only really liked the standard wave types and I thought the oberheim filter is amazing, through out the year I spent more time learning the ins and outs of the oscillator section of the synth in general and love the wavetables now and all the superwaves. It was all down to taking advantage of all the different ways to gainstage, drive and add extra harmonics to the wavetables along with subtle modulations that way you can get them to really shine through a filter. Couldn’t imagine my studio with out it now, only thing I could really imagine trading out out for would be a Oberheim 4 Voice and I doubt I will be in the position to get one of those anytime soon also there would be no way I would gig with something like that.
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OB6! Best decision ever.
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Wow, for the price of those things, that IS disappointing
the pro 2 looks extremely impressive. The sequencer with all the modulations…
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Yeah the sequencer is quite fun… its not as easy to make it do something exact like an electron but the way slew works is really nice especially in conjunction with ping pong or random as it always slews towards the next note or parameter, making for some much less static results even muted notes can be slewed towards, lots of weird experiments to have, much more like akin to some older styles of sequencers. Also being able to mute any layer of the sequencer is also very nice. Having the digitakt to also sequence it on top of that really makes it shine though.
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Hit: digitone
Miss: opz
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Holy cow, SSL Fusion and SSL Six! I think I am probably going to order a master sounds tomorrow after giving the whole minimal rotary mixer thing a lot of thought I think I really just have to take the plunge and see if it will work how I imagine with my set up.
HIT - bought Fxpansion Cypher 2 and TAL Sampler. They both sound SO good. TAL sampler is so much fun, just throw anything in there and squeeze a melody out of it. Cypher sounds proper lush and can get crazy, even if the vector GUI is pretty janky.
MISS - Virus TI Polar. I thought this would be the perfect pairing with the Octatrack, but despite all those knobs, I found it joyless to program, and the sound left me totally cold.
Miss for me would be the MPC live.
Hits: Octatrack mk2 and Op-1.
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well … my username is chaocrator, and i’m a gear shopaholic 
due to my desicion to go DAWless, i bought and bought and bought gear since late 2018 like crazy, spending all money i had, and experimented with combining it, until got my top 4 — yes, top 4, which is my current rig.
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Roland MC-707. this is the core of my rig, its heart and soul. perfect sound generator and excellent performance tool.
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Squarp Pyramid. the best sequencer on the market. (don’t tell me about Cirklon — at least it’s not backpack friendly, definitely not a machine to tour with.)
of course, it’s not a problem to perform with 707 alone. but Pyramid makes things far more interesting. any weird CC modulations i ever dreamed of, euclidean patterns/fills, MIDI FX, and other cool stuff — it’s all there. -
DSI Tetra. again, it’s not a problem to perform with 707 alone — but 707 is much better when paired with analog machine. i use Tetra as one duophonic (voices/outputs 1&2) + two monophonics (voices/outputs 3&4 whose amplifiers always work in monophonic mode) instances — it gives me plenty of dirty/screaming analog sound that is so good for such genres as goa trance or electro industrial.
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VA machines typically have built-in effects, but analog don’t. so, last but not least one in my top 4 — Boss VF-1, a companion for Tetra. besides a bunch of cool FX, it is perfectly MIDI controllable — this is where Pyramid shines again.
all this stuff (+mixer!) perfectly fits a DJ backpack — this is critical for me, since it’s all about performing on stage.
and two cents about things i did not like.
i did not like that 707 was released suddenly. if it was announced a bit earlier, i just would not buy some other gear not mentioned here.
anyway, nice job, 2019! roaring 20’s are coming, and i’ll use it all on every stage i can.
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I bought an embarrassing amount of gear in 2019. Started the year pretty much with just an OTmk2 and an A4mk2 and was looking for more stuff. Maybe coulda learned how to use the stuff I had 
BIG HITS
Focal ShapeTwin monitors
Lynx Aurora (n) 16 interface
Ozone Advanced
Soundtoys bundle
Slate bundle
Then came eurorack. I have 10U
HITS
Cwejman SM-1
Make Noise Mimeophon
Mannequins Just Friends
Polyend Poly (allows me to sequence w/OT)
L-1 DDVCF
Cwejman BLD, which I sold because I’m an idiot. Best bass sounds I’ve ever gotten
Doepfer A110-4
*I own maybe 5-6 Doepfer modules and they all work great and were stupid cheap compared to my other modules
MISSES (maybe)
Modules that were just a bit too fussy or random like Malekko Varigate 4+, MI Stages, Malekko Quad LFO
Intellijel Rubicon- I didn’t feel the sound justified the HP.
Make Noise Rosie- mediocre mixer at best
Noise Enineering BIA- really nice at times, but fussy to dial and I don’t care for NE’s flavor of distortion
4 Robots Ornament and Crime- life’s too short for that kind of menu dive! Maybe I’ll change my mind eventually 
Hopefully, I’ll slow down in 2020…yeah right
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Big hits :
Ableton 10.
I only use it as a tape recorder, arranger, FX but I really like it and have become a bit better with it.
RME Fireface UC.
I was really on the fence about upgrading my interface, it’s a boring purchase for sure. It’s been reallly worth it though, to my ear everything sounds much better once recorded.
Jomox T-Res II.
It has become indispensable. Love this unruly thing.
This one was very late 2018 but the Verbos Bark Filter. Favorite module, couldn’t imagine my rack without. It lead me to re-buy the Complex Oscillator which is another winning idea of 2019.
Lots of module were sold as well… nothing bad per se; just felt like it either didn’t fit my workflow or it was time to move on… Not missing any of them
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…my goodness…u gotto slow it down…
way too many snipes to catch here…
even the coolest gear is only that cool as much u know it inside out…
u got new sonic territory to discover for a decade…
don’t get lost…on the way…
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Best purchase of 2019 is my Novation Peak. Excellent synth!
I had just bought an OP-Z that I returned cause it was a B-Stock in disguise and I hadn’t clicked with it.
Also upgraded my Analog Heat to mk2.
Anyway, this year was the first time I realized I really own a lot of gear, and took the decision that from now on if one piece enters my studio, one as to leave. I really felt like looking for new was kind of a sickness, plus my old gear does feel like new as my own comprehension and skills rise (thinking of you, Monomachine), so I don’t really feel the need for other machines anymore.
Well, Osmose, maybe, but I am still pondering what I’ll sell out to make room. My modular maybe…
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My Hits:
Oberheim SEM
Prophet 6 desktop
A&H AU-PAC
Amazon shoerack for gear 
Miss:
Patchulator 8000 - never used it (it is for sale)
Micromonsta - never used it
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Hit : Synthstrom Deluge
Miss : OP-Z
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I got this box too and use it also in this stereo/dual mono configuration. With it having individual outs and being multitimbral, it‘s such a nice tool to work with! Bought it in January and been using it ever since - definitely a hit.
Sadly it has this brassy sound in its highs and high mids, it‘s a pain to sculpt it away everytime it‘s not a wanted quality. Still, usability definitely trumps the sound character.
Other than that, I really wish there were more utility desktop boxes as compact as the Tetra!
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I think you will like the mastersounds.