Modulation sources according to the Blofeld manual, I have not yet confirmed that they behave correctly with the Hydra.
That sounds like it would be worth trying - I’ll post somewhere when I’ve given it a try.
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Hits:
ProphetX - hands down the best synth I’ve ever owned. Sold Rev2 and Prophet12 after getting this. I can’t stop making patches … just really gelled with this one.
AS Impulse Command - raw, fat and raucous. A real joy to jam with the sequencer … but now I want all the AS synths!
A4 mk2 - I’ve had the mk1 for the past decade but finally upgraded due to worsening eyesight!! Most of my tracks start out in the A4.
Nord Drum 3P - had the ND2 previously but think I prefer this. Sequencing it with custom G2 patches is a blast.
M8 - enough has been said about this above. Fantastic device.
Misses:
SP404mk2 - I knew within 30 minutes it wasn’t for me. The workflow really irritated me.
Undecided:
Waldorf Iridium Keyboard - I need to spend more time with it but so far it just hasn’t grabbed me in the same way the Prophet X has. I found the gazilliion presets very uninspiring (deleted) and the kernel mode a little clunky to work with. But I haven’t given up hope yet.
Push3 SA - as someone stated above, I should have just bought the controller. It sits on my desk and I can’t see it leaving there. No other complaints though.
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This was the final post that pushed me over the edge and caused me to repurchase a Lyra!
Also wanted to state that I have sold my Push 3 Standalone and ordered a Controller.
With the upgrade path there seems to be no harm in making it standalone again once the internals are upgraded and bugs ironed out.
I’ve sold and bought a tonne of gear this year and regret a few of my sales but…
Hits:
Revox A77 MkIV - I love having a bottleneck in my system that forces me to print audio rather than constantly tweak it. And that tape hiss is unbeatable.
Osmose - I can barely play the keys but it brings me joy every-time I turn it on.
Torso T1 - I’ve so much to learn but its fun and it’s unique. Like having a musical conversation.
Eventide Space - It’s no CXM but it’s incredibly more versatile and I am in love. I actually prefer it to the h90 for it’s tweak-ability alone. Total Chef’s kiss when placed on the outs of the A77.
A good interface with many inputs - Unbeatable.
Misses:
Prophet 6 - I bought my 2nd prophet 6 this year and I just couldn’t gel with it. Too brassy/tinny to my ears where I often want warm and soft. Very metallic sheen that had me wishing I could afford a Prophet 10.
Shallow Water - I can’t do mono pedals. I just can’t. 
On the Fence:
Hapax - I think this will live in my studio forever. I’m just not fluent with it yet and often prefer to turn to older sequencer’s or Ableton. I’m very excited to see what interesting new tools come out with updates.
Novation Summit - I tried a peak and fell in love with it so I bought the summit. I struggle a little with the form factor and often the sound has me wishing I hadn’t sold my super 6… or could afford a 3rd wave/gemini 
That said, this synth is a total workhorse and it’s not going anywhere, anytime soon.
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Update to my list:
Hits (continued):
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Bastl Bestie – how did I forget to list this little guy? I got it when it was released (this year). Such a simple thing, but a compact mixer with overdrive and a feedback loop is so useful and sounds awesome. I have it for inputs into the OT and I love sampling mixed sounds with different levels of drive and feedback.
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Gotharman’s Little deFormer 3 – it arrived since I first posted my list of hits, but it’s already on track to becoming my favorite sampler – that carries some weight, because I’m really into samplers, and it might dethrone the Octatrack (at least in my head). Raw, fully modular, with a very flexible bus system and chaotic sequencer mayhem. It’s a modulation monster and leads to very strange places very quickly – it’s definitely a keeper.
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Didn’t buy much this year except gear I needed to solve specific problems in my studio, so no misses for me. The biggest hit this year was a bittree 969a. So much nicer than the trs patchbays I had been using and all I had to do was crimp e3 connectors to one end of the cables I was already using and I was good to go. No weak links left in my studio to give me headaches now!
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Yeah, that’s a real issue… why does this sound so much better than lots of other analogues I have/had? I don’t know. But I want more of it.
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Hits
Digitone E25:
I ‘upgraded’ to the E25 edition, which means I can talk about how amazing the Digitone is again. It was the elektron device that got me into this mess (though I owned a DT before a DN) and I’ve had it around since it came out. I sometimes wish it had a few more sound design features but the 4 tracks + 8 voice sequencer is what keeps me coming back. I really enjoy working with the limitations that brings.
Novation Peak:
I had to let go of my beloved Polybrute when I moved house last year. It was simply too big to fit in my new ‘studio’ room. I had a Peak a few years ago, and menu system aside was pretty fond of it. I let it go in favour of a P12 which I ultimately didn’t really gel with. The update it’s received since add a lot of new options for sound design, though they still haven’t adressed the menu system taking forever to page through. Love how it sounds though. The filter is so musical sounding, just throwing a S+H LFO on it with high resonance brings out these beautiful overtones:
Roland SP-404 MkII:
Overall it’s a hit. The way I ended up using it is kind of like the OP-1 tape recorder but on steroids. Sample phrases into it, resample with FX ontop and keep building off of what you already have. It’s a workflow that forces you to commit and one that leads me to interesting places.
For that purpose it is fantastic. It’s so quick to sample into and the FX are really high quality and fun to play with. Things take a bit of a turn when I try using it mostly standalone. It often feels like I have to fight it. End snap doesn’t work well for me, the step sequencer is very clunky, paging between different menu’s involves a lot of exiting and re-entering.
I’ve come to appreciate it for what it is. And sometimes the quirks steer me towards unexpected results. The fact it runs off of a tablet with USB C is amazing. The form factor is really inviting. It’s fun but it can often result in frustration too.
Misses
Minilogue BASS edition
I got this because it was cheap as hell. I actually liked how it looked in real life. It was moderately entertaining to play with but it wasn’t really something I could justify keeping around. It has a pretty distinctive sound and I did get some cool samples out of it. I sold it to justify the E25 Digitone purchase
EP-133 K.O II
Mine had a defective speaker so I decided to return it. The EP-133 is really focussed and it’s quick to put together something cool. I might pick one up again some day. For now I’ve decided to put up with the SP404 instead.
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the free Noise Engineering plugins for Ableton Live like NE Ruina are fantastic free gifts! No cost and powerful way to spice up tracks.
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The Peak and the Digitone seem to cover a load of territory 
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I want a peak
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The Digitone, Peak and SP-404 mk2 are the main setup at the moment. It’s compact but covers all my needs. The Digitone sequences everything. The SP-404 does sampling and master FX. Peak fills in for a lot of the things I can’t get out of the DN.
I also have an OP-1F that I really like, but it’s so expensive I don’t dare travel with it. As a result I’m using it much less than I’d like. A lot of my other gear I let go of when I moved house so I it’s a bit of a clean slate and trying to get as much done with as little as possible.
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I routinely travel with a laptop which is about as expensive as an OP-1F. I understand your concern but if you tuck it into an interior pocket in a carry-on backpack it is not likely to go missing. It seems like it is made for portability so it would be a shame not to try using it that way.
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I P-touched my OP-1F.
I’m still on track for NGNY and haven’t bought any synth hardware this year. Having said that I did have to get some new studio monitors (to replace a broken pair). They are called iloud MTM and they are a hit. Much better than I expected them to be. …Also on pretty heavy discount right now if you can tolerate Amazon UK.
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Hits
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Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave Desktop – this was a late year acquisition and I’ve had it for less than a week but I absolutely love it already. A huge range of timbres and stunning sound quality. I get a big goofy grin on my face every time I fire it up.
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Moog Grandmother – picked this up cheap and I’m super impressed by both the build quality and sound of this mono synth. I find it a joy to play and create sounds on. Pairs well with modular.
Misses
- Roland SP404 Mk2 – lots to like in theory, just couldn’t get with the work flow.
On the fence
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Ryk Modular Vector Wave – a little too menu divey for my tastes but I dig how it sounds
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Expressive E Osmose – an amazing controller but not a great platform for sculpting your own sounds unless you want to want to stare at a computer screen. Tempted to keep it just for it’s amazing expressiveness.
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gear sales this year:
- Acidlab Bassline
- Elektron Digitakt
- Division Department 01IV
- Korg OPSix
- Buchla 259e
- Vermona DRM1 mk3
- Teenage Engineering OP1
- Vermona Retroverb Lancet
- Loudest Warning (Serge) Research panel
gear purchases this year:
- Elektron Digitakt
- Buchla 259e
- Buchla 296e
- Buchla 218 LEM v3
- Elektron Machinedrum UW mk2+
- Intellijel Cascadia
- Doepfer Darktime
- Studio H Wireless Preset Manager
- Buchla 285e
- Buchla 206e
none of the sales items were things that I bought this year. most of the purchased items were things that I’ve owned previously, or are basically just utilities. the exceptions are the Intellijel Cascadia and the Buchla 296e and 285e. so we’ll say all the things that I’ve re-purchased are hits. and I guess things that I’ve sold (and not re-purchased) are misses.
of the items outside those two categories:
- Buchla 296e: I adore it. amazing fun to program frequency-based sculpting of a signal. and even if I’m not using the audio output, I get a lot out of it from the signal-driven envelopes/decays and having those modulate other things.
- Buchla 285e: undecided. it’s a frequency shifter and ring modulator. I’m having a lot of fun doing those things but I haven’t owned it long enough to say if it’s a keeper or not. it’s typical Buchla in that it’s deep but simple. and I love that.
- Intellijel Cascadia: I need to spend more time with it. I love the core sound and layout, the midi implementation provides a lot of extra options I didn’t expect, it’s built incredibly well and I love that there are several utilities built in. I haven’t found anything not to like yet, other than the form factor and how short the power cable is. both are awkward.
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Only made four major purchases in 2023, all of them hits:
Elektron Analog Four mk II – needs no introduction.
Nord Electro 6 – wonderful instrument, and I like the constraints of the design. Kind of the opposite to the A4.
Eventide Ultra Tap delay – great unit that I got for a great price.
And I finally realized that the eight string Ibanez RG 2228A that I had to sell back in 2018 was missing in my life. The new one is even better, because of the Bare Knuckle Juggernaut pickups instead of EMG’s.
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Could you say more about the form factor? I haven’t encountered one in person and I worry that it’s absolutely tiny.
Roland Verselab MV-1 was a big miss for me. I should of known after using the MC-101 that the typical Roland deep-dive-menu-system is too much of a hassle for me. It was on sale, I wouldn’t have bought it otherwise. It sits in a closet, unused.
Ableton Live 11 Suite is a big hit. Have had it for only about 2 weeks. All those amazing devices!
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my issue isn’t that it’s too small or awkward to use or anything, because it’s not. my issue is that there’s a lot of lost space on top and beside it when you rack it up. I wish they would’ve normalized it to a rack width and made it less tall. put all the I/O that’s on the top over on the right hand side, and put the 1/4" jacks on the front. it’s way more of a table-top device than a rack-able one.
versus the Cwejman S1, for example (1/4" and XLR outputs are on the back):
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