Did not buy much this year as I pledged a Less Gear Nu Year for myself.
Hts:
Misses:
none
On its way:
Hits:
MODX. Saw a new one for a very good price so it has ousted my MOXF. The MODX is a very impressive synth.
B’s CAT. Didn’t think I could live with a synth that could not save sounds but it is hanging in there due to being one wide sweet spot.
Misses:
TR8S. Totally unfair to call it a miss as it is a great drum machine. But I hardware sequence everything from my 707 so was just using the 8S as a tone generator so not worth keeping (particularly as the MODX does great drum sounds).
I guess I can do this now since I’m not planning on any more purchases at this point of the year.
I’ll start with MISSES since there weren’t many:
Eurorack, again. Tried a setup around ALM Squid Salmple and their other modules for lofi beats and it sounds amazing but I have finally accepted I just prefer the convenience of doing all my drums ITB, even if I have yet to find an alternative that’s quite as deliciously crunchy as the Squid.
Yeah so that’s it for misses, now the HITS:
Plogue OPS7 & MD, Softube FET & TLA-100A, Valhalla Room - all fantastic plugins to cover my FM, compression and room reverb needs.
Beyerdynamic DT-900 Pro X - just what I wanted - something similar to my old 770 Pros but open back to bother my tinnitus less. They’re nothing exciting but I like em.
RME UCX II - best purchase of the year, or maybe decade for me. Replaced my SSL SiX, which just ended up as an unnecessary middle point between my gear and computer, and was an upgrade from my Babyface Pro. I learned I’m more productive when I have everything running through a DAW (Ableton in my case), ready to be recorded, and the UCX II gives me all the options I need.
UAFX Dream 65 - upgrade from my Iridium since I only used the Fender amp setting. This pedal destroyed my hopes of not spending much on gear this year, as it opened a floodgate of interest in other pedals to go with it.
Boss RV-6 - not going to break down all my pedal purchases, but I’m glad to have this back after selling one last year when I got a UA Golden Reverberator. GR is still the nicest sounding reverb I’ve heard, but RV-6 just does what I want for more ambient stuff.
Boss BD-2W, HM-2W, EHX Op Amp Big Muff, Proco Fat Rat - Dream 65 made me appreciate my SD-1W in a way I hadn’t previously, which led me down a dirt pedal rabbit hole. They are all fantastic, but the Fat Rat has quickly become my favorite guitar pedal ever. Always wondered what I was missing with my old Turbo Rat I’ve had forever and am glad I found out. Now they are my top two favorite pedals I own.
Hits:
Syntakt
Still debating wether it’ll kick Rytm Mk2 out of my setup. Still need to figure out which role(s) it will do best. But it’s super fast to get going, sounds great, and is starting to sound more and more like I want to sound. Love the better midi functionality of it over Rytm.
Eventide Space
Sounds like my H9 reverbs, but with 10 knobs. So: great.
Xaoc Koszalin (Frequency Shifter) - big knob for big effects. Make techno sounds.
Mackie 1202
Great small mixer with enough channels, two sends, lots of smart I/O. Perfect for a live setup.
Quadrantid Swarm
I kinda love it. But since I’ve stopped experimenting with it I can’t get much more from it than the same noise pads/percs or bass sounds. I recently heard some older recordings of mine with it and it did some great other sounds. Kind of wondering how I lost my way with it. I’ve started making my own patch sheets for patches to remember how to patch different sounds from it from now on.
Monsoon - finally a good and affordable delay in my rack wíth built in low/high pass filter.
On the fence:
Muxlicer + Mex. Lots of great functions. Impossible to beat for the price. It’s got some annoying things though (pitch is unstable, mostly). On the fence about Eurorack sequencers as a whole, actually. They’re too expensive to try them all, but kinda need to try all sorts to find my way with them. (I’m curious about Black Sequencer, Hapax, Metropolix, Verbos Multistage, etc etc - on the one hand sequencer modules help happy accidents that I like in Eurorack, on the other they kind of are in the way of any reproducibility that’s needed towards making tracks or preparing sets, especcially when not having a sampler)
Miss:
B2600 - I tend to want to let big gear go. Midi was unfortunately fussy with the way OT handles note messages.
Other:
Xaoc Katowice - really liked it, but didn’t need it enough to fit it in my 6U rack. Sold for now. If I had the space/money I’d love to have it again.
Tiptop Buchla VCO - great thing, but same as Xaoc Katowice
Hits:
Misses (because I didn’t like them):
Near Misses (Because they didn’t fit my workflow):
On The Fence:
I seriously didn’t buy a single piece of gear this year 
-edit: yet-
HITS Audiothingies Micromonsta 2. Im still getting used to it as its a bit fiddly and menu divey for sound design but just using the presets is good enough for a play around. A bargain for £200 odd in my eyes.
Motu 8 Pre. This is something Ive needed since moving from a mixer back to an audio interface as I got tired or running my A4 through the Digitakt then into the ID14. Its old but I got it a a great price and is so far serving me well.
No misses as Ive only bought those 2. Keeping it simple.
Game of two halves this year. More a sell and buy list. Sold lots of hits to help buy a house:
Sold
Octatrack (still have one but locked having two)
SSL fusion, Manley elop+, moog 3 tier -DFAM,M32, subharmonicon, vermona drm1 IV, mastersounds R4V, a nice Santa Cruz dread, lyra8, various pedals.
Reading that list feels like the knickerwrenching bit on the Oscar’s where the show you who kicked it the previous year.
But I have rebounded in style:
Prophet 10, DSI Tempest, ssl bus +, drawmer something, soma cosmos. All hits.
Hits:
Misses:
Hits:
System Coupe is a slam dunk for me along with ALM MFX. Just a gnarly little sample based system. Something about it is just so easy to make things sound good.
Waldorf M is my all time favorite at this point… 1.0.8 update is coming with in the next few weeks 
should be really nice. It is supposed to address annoying multimode stuff that has plagued Waldorf stuff for ages and add in a bunch of XT filter types. I think if the multi mode stuff is good I will be grabbing the expansion card as soon as it comes on the scene. Technically got this late 2021 but I think now I have had enough time to really get to know it.
Genelec 7040a sub not sure how I got on without for so long. Really helps the 8010s and doesn’t feel like you need to annoy the neighbors to get the most out of it. Although there is now the option to really annoy the neighbors : )
Mixed
Spectralis is amazing sounding, the sample memory limits are annoying though and I quickly realized there isn’t going to be a good work flow for breaks within it sadly. Some of the features are boarding on unusable for me but the filter bank and hybrid synth and digital sample based synths are all super good. I think in the end it is worth suffering a little for what you get…
Hits
Octatrack mk2 - almost bought one numerous times over the years but always found something else. Gave in eventually and zero regrets. Awesome machine
Syntakt- early days but instantly liked it and have a few ways I’d like to use it in my setup. Ticks lots of boxes.
Uno pro desktop - again rather new and had few sessions but enjoyed it so far. Sequencer is solid and plenty of scope for sound design.
Misses
Eurorack - this was my second attempt at building a modular and I loved what I put together. Worked excellently feeding my Octatrack for samples. Sadly I found myself constantly looking at swapping out modules and thought best selling or I’d be on modulargrid more than making music.
Hits
Iconnectivity Mioxl - This is great, just plug everything in and it pretty much works! very little fussing about with it.
Chase Bliss Automatone CXM 1978 - I swapped out my H9 for this because I wanted more hands on control without an app. I fell like it could be smaller but it sounds freaking great!
MegaCommandLive - This is a pretty neat little box, it really opens up the MachineDrum. But, it also leaves something to be desired, particularly in using it with other gear when MD is not the lead device. I’m holding onto for now, but im not really using it at the moment.
Misses
I sold some guitar amps and pedals this years since I’m not playing in a band anymore, plus the Simplifier covers all my needs these days.
Launchpad X - I got this to get me into exploring ableton more, but it mostly just sat around, so it went.
Same. I am on the verge of liquidating mine too, then Modbap had to go and mess it up by releasing the Trinity which sounds better the more I hear it.
Yeah that certainly looks worth hanging round for
Hit: Dirtywave M8.
I’ll spare everyone the sales pitch I’ve been giving on and off through the site. But with it, I’ve finished two beats, one generative amen-thing, and one cover, which is more than I’ve finished in the whole last decade.
Miss: Nanoloop for Android
I know, lol music for Android, but I was excited for this as a mobile music tool before I got the M8. Unfortunately, doing just about anything requires so many taps that I never wanted to use it. It also hasn’t been updated since 2018.
Hits:
-Dirtywave M8 : Continues to exceed my expectations (not sure if 2021 or 2022).
-Oxi One : Incredible support, best sequencer i ever had a keeper.
-Waldorf M : This one is special, it just sounds beautiful.
-Gotharman Urano : That thing is mind blowing.
-B2600 : Its an amazing mono , does it sounds like a 2600 … i dont really care TBO its just a very good analog synth.
No miss 
Hits:
-Korg Minilogue xd. After a two year pause from electronic music, which took me to sell all of my gears, I have decided to buy just one poly synth because was the only thing I’ve missed so much. I have loaded it even with acoustic piano or cello samples, and its hybrid engine is great and fun to use.
-Elektron Syntakt: One thing I don’t like about minilogue xd is the limitation to 16 step for the great sequencer. So, i was looking on ebay for a used circuit tracks… when I found an auction for a brand new syntakt…
I’m still not sure about it, I had a Digitakt in the past wich was one of my favourite gear. I think I have to spend much more time with
Syntakt’s melodic machines to learn if its good for me.
If Elektron would realease an update with some more machines i would chose much faster…
This past year I did the opposite of NoGearNewYear. It was a year for splurging on dream gear. It’s insane to hoard this much shit, but as Sartre said, existence is excess.
Hits:
Vermona '14 - dream synth. everything I thought it’d be and more.
Studio Electronics SE-3X - sonic bulldozer, hope to tame it someday.
Korg miniKORG 700FS - unorthodox, expensive, but looking at it makes me want to sit down and play.
Moog Subsequent 37 - I had been wanting one for years. The perfect all around monosynth in my mind.
Majella Implexus - Took a flyer and picked one up. Love the East/West workflow. I think it’s a keeper.
Misses were just pedals this year:
Mood
Blooper
Ottobit Jr - couldn’t figure out how to make the inputs/outputs fit my workflow.
Rooms - I prefer Empress Reverb and the OTO Bam.
Maybe i’m just not a pedal guy. I love my Analog Heat and I did just order a Boum which I’m pretty excited about. I’m not that into ambient music, which seems to be what the Chase Bliss pedals excel at.
I got the Vermona 14, Korg 700FS and Implexus this year too! They’re major homeruns, and absolutely gorgeous to boot! Maybe I should look into the SE-3X now…!
Hits:
OP-1 Field, everything I’ve wanted out of the Op-1 for the past decade.
SP-404 MKII, I bought my first one in 2021 but sold it and realized that was a huge mistake. Was about to buy one very quickly though and I will say this is the best sampler on the market all things considered. If anyone asked me what hardware sampler to get this is what I’d recommend first without thinking.
S2400, really beefy sampler. It sounds really good.
Oto Bam: Very lush sounding reverb and possibly the first time I could actually hear the effect of a reverb pushing a sound back into the mix. Also very weird but cool to have a decent distortion effect with Oto Bam.
Syntakt, pretty much what I’ve wanted out of a drum machine for a long time. Not having to choose between digital or analog plus having a workflow that I didn’t fight really made this a good purchase.
TX-6, I’ve wanted a mixer for awhile for utility purposes but hated the form factor of all of them. Having a very small footprint and battery powered is super convenient and it sounds very good.
Misses:
LXR-02, I just wasn’t a fan of the workflow. It felt really weird to do a lot of things and the display only have a handful of characters was annoying. Sounded good but not worth the effort, especially with the Syntakt.
Akai Force: really just got it to try it out. It’s everything I hate in the MPC but worse, lol. It’s ridiculously big and sounds mediocre and the whole interface felt unintuitive. Sure, I didn’t give it much of a chance, I only had it a few days but I knew right away I didn’t like it.
On the fence:
Twisted Electrons Blast Beats, I ended up selling this after reevaluating my needs (Syntakt came out shortly after) but it did sound really good and it was a cool, unique, digital drum machine, highly recommend. It does have some UI quirks though.
Maschine+, it’s a LOT better then when I last tried it. I think it’s in a good spot now and you get a lot for your money with it but sonically it lacks any character that I hope hardware has. It’s still got a great workflow but NI continues to seemingly show that they don’t really care about it as updates drop at a trickle when their main competition is constantly dropping huge updates.
Oto Boum, it does sound really good as a distortion and compressor but I’m finding it’s use case to be more limited than I’d like. I also have the analog heat and I find the Heat to be much more versatile. I’m just not sure I really need this but I gotta decide.
Norand Mono, it’s a cool device that sounded good but to me it’s fairly expensive for a mono synth. It’s cool how much modulation there is but honestly, just pick up an A4 and you get much more for your money. Still, it’s a great synth but I ended up selling it. Not really a miss for me but ultimately not needed.
Edit:
Two pieces I completely forgot about and are both Hits:
Hapax and Hydrasynth Desktop. Hapax is like the ultimate sequencer for me. Really helps to supercharge my synths with the tools it gives. Really fond of being able to edit automation within a familiar DAW like format (though much more hands on) and the midi envelope and LFOs are awesome at expanding the capabilities of my synths.
Hydrasynth is just an awesome synth for the price.