Forgot to mention how much I love my Analog Cases XTS stands 
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Hits:
Chase Bliss MOOD MKII: pricey, but so much fun!
Eventide Blackhole: it does what it’s supposed to do well and I like its sound
Morningstar MIDI Box: super useful and inexpensive
Misses:
Red Panda Tensor: I don’t want to call it a one trick pony, but it did feel very limited, especially for its price
Nux Loop Core Stereo: I just didn’t like it
Undecided:
Sonicware Liven XFM: this one can make wonderful sounds with its 4 operators, but I really don’t like how it looks, and its effects and filters are really weak.
Polyend Synth: I’m pretty sure I’ll return it, but I’m still playing with it. It has potential to be awesome, but the laggy software and audible clicks everywhere are killing me. I’m also not a fan of its encoders, the ones on the Elektron boxes are much better.
Behringer Edge: it was fun, at first, but now it’s sitting unused on a nearby desk
I’ll probably sell a lot of gear in 2026 and just buy a Digitone II, and maybe a Minilogue XD. And Kinotone Ribbons, once it’s available at Pedal Zone again.
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I have the APC40MK2 with the Push 3, I think this is the ultimate combo, because then you use push for all the other stuff than the apc, like pad takeover stuff 
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Be warned Devoce locking does not work in Push 3 standalone ;(
Big hit :
Cirklon V1 : experimental playground
Hits :
Neuzeit Drop : snapshots tweaking playground
Erae 2 : tactile playground
Max 9 : playground
Analog Heat mk2 : hell yeah
Misses:
Roto control : too gimmicky
DT2 : too limited
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Yeah, the closest I’ve seen to this is to go Settings > Preferences > Select on Launch (turn it off.) This way you do at least stay with your chosen rack. It’s not the same as locking, but I guess it can be cool.
DNII is too limited?! Dont tell that to OG DN lol
Just to be clear, I’m talking about the Digitakt 2 here. DT usually refers to the Digitakt whereas DN refers to the Digitone.
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Damn, I missed a big one that I forgot I bought in January…
Virus Ti Snow - MEGAHIT - I totally get the Virus hype. I sort of bought it with the view that it would probably be „the last synth I ever need“ in a pretty compact package and boy, does it deliver. Also, despite an interface that looks on the surface very menu-dive-y, it’s actually very fast to put together brilliant sounds. I’m still looking for a good iOS patch manager for it because I know there are endless amounts of Virus patches out there on the internet and I’d love to make use of them but I’ve put together a handful of useful things for myself by just futzing around of an evening and saved them, so I don’t have to start from scratch every time (although that is actually pretty rewarding tbh).
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After another week I can definitely confirm it’s a hit. It’s the ultimate pick up and play for a bit device. The sampling workflow is ridiculously simple and the barrier to put an idea down in general is almost non existent. And just the idea that I can take anything I make on it and just drop it into Live to finalise it is like a mental load being lifted 
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Hits:
Forge TME Vhikk X - had to spend ages on the waitlist and boy was it worth the wait. Desert island machine for sure. Sounds like the kind of stuff i spent many late nights cooking up in ableton, all distilled into a giant parameter space i can freely navigate with my brain turned off basically.
Electrosmith Daisy Pod - absolutely love this thing. ported a few airwindows plugins to it and turned it into a super gritty distortion/FSU+delay and haven’t touched the code ever since.
On the fence:
Arturia Minifreak - i’d definetly keep it if i hadn’t gotten the Vhikk X, but now it feels redundant because i was using it for the same purpose (shut my brain off and make dystopic drones after a long day). Still, i made a record with it and it’s fun to use, so it was definetly worth it.
Misses:
Doepfer Pocket Control - small, useful and built like a tank. but the knobs are too close together 
NI Maschine Mk3 - got this one cheap used, it’s fun but the built-in sample playback engine is awful, especially the filters.
Octatrack Mk2 - my 4th within a decade i think, and i’m just so done with it at this point. I’m probably not alone in thinking that the OT is like an abusive ex you keep returning to despite knowing better. Looking forward to when the TV has a mature firmware, perhaps it’ll scratch that same itch (on paper it does address all my main gripes with the OT, but the bugs are still putting me off for now)
Ableton Move - eh, it’s a great design - just not for me.
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Made my day! 
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Hmmm - thanks for the insight, mate, I appreciate it. Maybe I can’t completely rule out giving a P3 a go at some point in the future….
Ah, i see now. Totally misread it
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Agree completely about the move, the fact you dont have to save/load and you can move almost instantly between projects makes it feel like an open canvas you can just pickup.
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First, no regrets on anything, meaning, not sure how much I will use some of what I acquired, but still glad I have it.
Hits:
Steampipe (just got it this week, but after re-routing my studio audio and using my second aux send into the Steampipe instead of the Strymon BlueSky (for now), I am breathing new, crazy life into lots of synths! Also, so big, so fun to touch and tweak in little tiny increments. More than I expected! Also, though, honeymoon…
Osmose (49). I bought this last year but didn’t bring it into my home studio until earlier this year. It has become the main controller I use (over Push 3, Linnstrument and Korg Kronos). It feels so good every time I play it and I do not think this feeling will fade over time.
Korg Multi/Poly VST in a synth box? Yup, for sure. And also nice to have a wide array of buttons and knobs to go along with the editor. I don’t use the computer-based editor much. When I do use it, it’s mostly for selecting various presets as a starting point, and then use the hardware to tweak what I have.
Polyend Play+ I really love having this around for couch noodling and traveling. It has its limits, but all the fun sequencing you can do is really captivating, at least for short bits at a time.
Polyend Synth I bought this as an afterthought when I bout the Play because Polyend had both at a steep discount earlier this year. I haven’t used it for much, but it sounds better than I expected for such a little guy.
Not Sure
OP-XY Totally unplanned purchase, and also victim to brilliant marketing by TE, taking an absurdly overpriced little piece of gear and then discounting it steeply? Yup, I fell for it. It reminds me of walking through Nordstrom on the way to some other store and seeing “40%” off some backpack that looks really nice, but still costs $500 after the “discount.” I’d already been considering a Tonverk or MPC Live III, but the TE sale got me. The OP-XY also appealed to me for having similar (and more or less) capabilities with the very small form-factor, so I can travel with it over the next several years (going to be doing some international, longer-term travel, hopefully).
UVI SoundBundle When this came out, I debated on whether to buy it, but it was cheaper since I already bought Falcon and a couple of their add-ons. Like the OP-XY, good marketing! I can’t say I’ve really used it much yet, but since buying it, I haven’t touched Native Instruments Komplete.
Push 3 Standalone upgrade kit Bought this with Ableton’s Black Friday deal a week ago. Still sitting in boxes. I have real doubts about whether this purchase makes sense, mostly because the Push 3 is already so big and heavy as a standalone (to me, couch or travel) box. We’ll see.
Still considering
I won’t be joining the NGNY 2026 crowd–mostly because I am still thinking I mostly likely will buy a Tonverk in 2026 and long-shot possibility that I’d consider an MPC Live III.
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Funny you mention NGNY - reflecting on the purchases from this year I’m thinking I have few excuses to justify more gear (not that I need an excuse… which is why I ultimately probably won’t sign up)
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Had an interesting and productive year, made some of my best music yet and learned a lot.
Hits
Digitone II
What an incredible synth! By far the most generous offering from Elektron in my opinion. It feels like they threw everything into it. I absolutely love it. What other synth offers 16 tracks of timbrality and/or polyphony depending on what you need? What other synth lets you create an entire track on, including drums, textures, pads, leads, basses, all at once? My desert-island synth.
Digitakt II
Didn’t expect to enjoy this workflow as much as I did, especially slicing. Just posted a performance the other day and I’m totally sold on this way of making music now. What I love most is how it pushes my music into new territory. It’s not a sample version of the Digitone II – it offers something different.
AstroLab 37
This was the biggest surprise for me this year. It’s not really a synth and more of a massive sound library, but the truth is I’ve never made more music in such a short time. And DT2 + A37 is a killer combo.
Novation Peak
Sounds amazing. Another super fun synth to pair with the DT2. I love how it can go from pristine to dirty. The range is incredible and the filter and distortions sound great. It’s deep but still offers tons of good presets to start from. Sound design feels approachable despite the depth. And it’s arguably the best-looking synth in my setup.
Sequential Fourm
This is a synth I just enjoy playing. I’ve lost hours simply sitting with it. It pushes me into a mindset where I’m not trying to finish anything… kind of like meditation. The keys are more playable than the Arturia mini keys; the hinges sit higher in the chassis and feel lighter. If I’m critical, the Arturia keys feel more premium with their resistance, but in practice my fingers prefer the Fourm. The combo of poly aftertouch and an arp is wonderful and constantly inspiring. I do miss built-in effects though, and I basically never play it dry.
LaunchControl XL 3
I’m using this in pretty much all of my Elektron performances. It’s very easy to set up and I’ve developed a system leveraging Elektron macros that has really evolved my live sets. I do wish it (and Elektrons!) supported relative CCs. And it needs aftertouch MIDI support so I can make proper use of another row of encoders.
KeyLab 88 mk3
My son takes piano classes and plays the KeyLab daily. It’s such a beautiful piece of kit. Even though it’s just a midi controller, it’s the one thing in my studio that truly feels like a real instrument. I should play it more often myself, but honestly I just enjoy seeing it in the room. I still don’t get why Arturia pushes the white designs when this black version is so elegant.
WIDI Master
I hate cables. With this little dongle I’m able to perform with the XL3 without a cluster of cables on the desk. I’ve even taken the DT2 + XL3 to the bedroom thanks to these. It’s a great solution for simple MIDI setups. Not perfect though – it does add a bit of latency, so I wouldn’t use it for sequencing drums or keeping DT2 and DN2 in sync. But for things like playing the KeyLab 88 across the room like Benny Andersson, it’s perfect.
Faderfox UC4
Such a neat little unit, and the push encoders make a massive difference in performance – I use them to reset values so the encoders are as quick to work with as the faders. I also use the crossfader for delay feedback in buildups. Wouldn’t mind a slightly bigger version with proper midi ports though; the conversion cables get messy, and WIDI unfortunately won’t power from it. Not a huge fan of the green buttons either, sometimes they don’t register.
Misses
- Ableton Move – In theory it could have been my only device if all I did was make music in the DAW. But in a hardware setup, it’s too cumbersome. The constant auto-save means you have to maintain project copies just to rehearse. You can’t really jam on it. It’s brilliant as a sketchpad, but I don’t need that in my setup.
- Push 3 Standalone – Too big and bulky to fit naturally anywhere in my life. I really wanted it to be the groovebox to rule them all, but it’s just not as fun as the Elektron workflow.
- MPC Live II – Sold it in anticipation of the Live III. I had a lot of fun with it, but once the DN2 arrived it started losing its place, and I stopped picking it up.
- Polyend Tracker+ – My least-used groovebox. It just didn’t sound as good as everything else in my setup. No real EQ options, and something about the filter always felt rough.
- Polyend Tracker Mini – Fun for trips, but it shares the same sound limitations as the Tracker+. It also felt too fiddly. I like exploring harmonies by playing, and even simple Digi-style trigs are enough for that. But the Tracker Mini made it harder than it needed to be.
The fun part is that every piece, both the hits and misses, pushed me somewhere new creatively. The journey really is the destination.
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Super write up, I was interested to see what made your list and your take on it.
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