Yes, there’s updates coming for the ST/DT/DN and the ST update is major per my discussion with the Elektron rep at Knobcon. I wasn’t even going to post his mention of a new hardware product in development different from the current product line, but it spawned a highly entertaining thread, so no tidbit is too small to post.
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HITS
- Rev2 8 voice, used with REVfield and Voice Component Modulation (VCM) patches installed. It sounds glorious.
- Soma Lyra 8
- Soma Cosmos
- Keystep 37
- Microcosm
- Digitakt - have wanted one since they came out, found a great price for a used one.
- Roland FP-60X, learning piano over the past few months has made all the above a lot more enjoyable.
Sold, not really misses
- TE OP-1 from 2017. Got it new for $750 at the time, I’m glad that it held its value and it provided a lot of joy during some tough times. Ultimately I just never got along with it enough to keep it.
- Polyend Tracker, I bought when I got diagnosed with a challenging health condition and quickly realized that it would take more energy and dedication that I had at the time to learn it and use it in a musical way. I was able to record a pretty killer cover of xtal on it and learned more about sampling throughout that process.
- Eurorack - finally got around to selling all the modules I had mainly bought around 2017-2018 (mutable clouds and rings, intellijel osc and filter, several others). Mirack scratches my modular itch. I have a LOT of cv cables if anyone is in need in the Boston, MA area.
As you can see, I have a lot of hardware to learn now and am enjoying the process! The “technology of music production” course via Berklee on Coursera has been eye opening and super educational - just like learning piano it definitely has made recording feel less unwieldy. I am exploring DAWs to see which feels best and so far am a little torn between Ableton and Bitwig, leaning toward Bitwig because of how much more responsive it feels than live.
Fun thread to follow - fun to learn how others are spending their time!
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If you like virtual modular stuff (since you also mention miRack) then I’d highly recommend playing around with the grid device in Bitwig if you have’t yet. It can take a little bit of getting used to, but I credit it with keeping me away from hardware modular.
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I didn’t buy much this year, but I couldn’t resist a b-stock …
Hit: Nord Drum 3
Love this thing. It’s really nice to have a digi-synth unit as a compliment to my longtime drum duo of Digitakt + Tanzmaus. Didn’t realize how much I missed that s t e r e o membrane sound. Having the three banging away is a rewarding exercise in restraint, and together, they’re a stone wall defence against ailments like Perkons gas, among other things.
Misses:
No real misses. But I’m a little disappointed to find my Pocket Operators seem to die of their own accord just sitting on the shelf. And I haven’t touched my Beatstep Pro in a while because at some point I just got disgusted with the flashy LEDness of it all.
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update 1
iPad (9th gen)
super hit.
did not plan it at all, but needed something to work in a blackout time, so got one.
it became my favorite sketching & arrangement machine very quickly.
always with me, always ready to rock, and when it comes to arranging tracks – Drambo is the most convenient arrangement tool ever.
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Hits:
Eventide rose (underrated delay imho)
Reverend Buckshot (needed a gigging t-style and love it)
Rega P3 (don’t think I’ll ever need another turn table for listening)
Misses:
CBA Blooper (great pedal just a little costly for how much I used it. I just use my Octatrack for similar results)
Squarp pyramid (a little convoluted and redundant given my elektron gear)
Tr6s (replaced with…)
Fence:
Syntakt (great box but makes me miss my Heat, DT, and DN)
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I think the eventide rose is the most underrated delay of the past 5 years. It can do everything and then some.
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HITS
Squarp Hapax Didn’t expect I’d get one this year. Incredibly good sequencer. Ability to pattern sync the Elektrons has allowed it to become the center of my setup. Previously both OT and Pyramid were both at the center and two are one too many.
Roland TR-8s Replacing my TR-8 which I liked much more than I had expected. Hope they issue a firmware update to fix pattern syncing. Then it’ll be perfect.
Roland MX-1 Lots of nifty and unique features. There are many things that could be improved but there’s nothing else like them out there. Except maybe a TE TX-6 for unicorn money. So, yeah…
Analog Rytm MK1 Downgraded MK2 to MK1. Turns out I use the TR-8S a lot and prefer the MK1 form factor and look. And that’s all the drum machines I’ll ever need. Forever, surely. 
MAM RS3 Instant 90s K&D vibe, swirling, phasing, resonating band pass filters. Totally out of place for what I’m doing. Still, I’ve got a serious crush on that sound.
NOT SURE
Meris Polymoon It does some nice things but the range of sounds I like is rather small. Gonna give it a few more tries.
Midi Fighter Twister About once a year I buy some sort of Midi controller hoping to control some out of reach synths, or plugins or whatever. Then it sits there right in front of me for months and I just can’t seem to find ways to incorporate it into my setup. Then I sell it. So far it looks like this year’s controller will meet the same fate as last year’s Launchpad Pro. I guess if I played live and programmed it specifically for each set it would make more sense. I’m just having a hard time configuring it as a generic, flexible controller. Oh, and the setup software only runs when the MF-T is the only Midi device connected to the computer which is just mind bogglingly stupid…
MISSES
Expert Sleepers USAMO Great when it works - but it doesn’t always work without making adjustments for some reason I can’t quite be bothered to figure out these days. So off it will go, to someone who hopefully can.
MyVolts PSD 230 Thought I’d save a few bucks by not getting the original Roland PSU, but this thing is whining and beeping like mad under my desk. YMMV but can’t recommend.
And I think that’ll be it for this year. Unless a Wavestation comes along at a price I can’t refuse. No more items on the wishlist. Gotta start saving to replace my slowing dying iPad.
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MISSES
Syntakt- I think i purchased it more out of a subconscious sense of duty than anything else. Had the exact same dislike for its sonic palette as i did when i bought the Cycles. It’s a best-of of all my least favourite flavours of Elektron (Cycles, the Analogs), and i found myself wanting for more depth (akin to the Digitone, which i guess is what i was hoping for- quality rather than quantity). I only really have myself to blame for purchasing it expecting it to be something that it wasnt. Flipped it very quickly, no regrets.
Kodamo Essence FM mk2- Beautiful build, beautiful UI, beautiful sounds… But… I couldnt escape the feeling that it felt very similar in sound and execution to Ableton’s Operator. Which is no criticism, just that i already have Operator, and once that thought entered my head it was very difficult to justify the £1k+ I had spent on it, so it was duly returned. Regretfully, in order to fund it i sold my beloved digitone, which is a BIG regret.
Octatrack mk2- My 3rd or 4th OT (i honestly cant remember), technically i purchased it last year but it was only this year that I properly took the time to commit to it more so than i had with the previous ones. And we had a good time, i made some stuff on it that i enjoyed and am happy with. But ultimately i came to the conclusion that i’m over it. The little workarounds and head-scratching moments that you come to accept as part of the OT flow i started to find a bit tedious, and lack of a straightforward way to rearrange/edit large projects (i.e for putting together a live set comprising many banks and so on) became the dealbreaker for me. Its a fun machine to jam with occasionally and I probably would have kept hold of it were it not for the fact that im uncomfortable keeping high value stuff unused on the shelf. If a ‘cheap’ mk1 comes along id maybe consider it, but other than that me and OT have split (amicably, of course).
Eurorack (various)- i’ve dabbled a bit in the past and have never been that bothered about pursuing modular further, but for some reason out of nowhere i jumped head first into this and quickly retreated once i realised what an absolute money pit modular has the potential to be. Also i was spending A LOT of time researching/designing various modules/setups etc without getting anything remotely noteworthy done. Ducked out before it got out of hand, genuinely relieved.
NOT SURE
Yamaha TG77- So conflicted about this as i’d wanted one for ages and they are reasonably rare. I knew what i was entering into when i got it, in that programming would be painfully complex and a fairly unenjoyable convoluted affair. I underestimated just how much tho. It sounded abolutely beautiful, but an absolute pig to program, and using an external editor proved to be just janky and frustratingly bad. Considered keeping it as a preset machine, as the presets are gorgeous (if youre into that particular eary 90’s digital sound, which i am), but i felt that was a bit of a waste of such a powerful machine. Also it was massive and didnt sit comfortably anywhere. Sold it, kind of but dont regret. I still have my TG33, which altho a completely different beast is enough to keep me happy for those types of sounds.
Yamaha TQ5- no idea about this one. My friend had one for sale, i liked the look of it and also have a thing for circa-1990 yamaha FM synths so i picked it up. It sounds pretty bad as it is, but with the help of a (pretty janky) external editor it can produce some gnarly sounds. And the design is mental. I doubt i’ll use it for much any time soon, but im holding on to it as i seem to get good vibes from it.
HITS- Not sure if this counts, but following my brush with modular a few months back i realised i’d hit complete saturation point with gear in general. The constant push-pull of coveting/acquiring/selling was tiring and even a bit (low-level) stressful for me. So i got rid of everything apart from the TG33 and TQ5 (the latter of which doesnt count as it was dirt-cheap anyway). I didnt quite anticipate the sense of relief i’d get from doing this (initially it was just to claw back some of the money i’d spaffed on various gear that i clearly wasnt using) but it was like having a very heavy monkey removed from my back. It also focused me for the first time in years to actually design and build some stuff just in Max, which im enjoying now probably more than ive enjoyed anything in a long time. And theres no clutter, no constant re-aligning my gear to best fit in my tiny studio space, no constant re-wiring and un-plugging, and no shelves of stuff staring at me and making me feel guilty at their under-use. I’d call that a hit?!
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A month in now. It’s definitely a hit. It’s so deep and playful with lots of nasty corners where the headroom is smashed to pieces in a way that appeals to me for Geiger sounds. But something I didn’t expect was to find myself getting into sequencers for it on iPad. So two more potential hits for me are Fugue Machine and (for some future drum machine and/or sampler) Patterning 2. I’ll get Borderlands too at some point because that just looks fucking mental. Just need the right interface to go in and out of iPad and into Bitwig.
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Hahahha, this burns 
I really need to start with the live set and expand over trying to leave room for greater expressivity and hoping the need for complexity arises.
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I only bought one thing this year just last week: A Digitone.
The short time I’ve had with it tells me it’s definitely a hit. While the Reface DX (my only other hardware FM reference) could do shades of different FM, but still FM (why I sold it, it always stuck out like sore thumb in the mix next to my other gear) the DN has way more means (read: mostly the filter) to blend in and sound warm and lush. And of course the sequencer, parameter locks, from 0 to HOLY… etc.
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This was my experience with modular as well. The whole process took about two years, during which I probably used two dozen different modules and never settled on anything that was really fun or comfortable for very long. I realized that most things my rack could do could be done easier and better in my pro-3 and MPC. Also realized I need patch memory. God knows how much time I spent researching modules. I eventually realized that what I wanted to do would require $5-6000 worth of gear, and listed all of my modules for sale that week. Selling my modules was, like you said, a genuine relief.
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Yeh- this is kind of what eventually led me to picking up Max again. the modules i liked the most were Pam’s New Workout and a couple of the ALM FM synths (akemie’s & taiko), and before i ducked out i was eyeing up the Ornament & Crime (i forget the exact name of it now) and i figured i could maybe have a stab at making an approximation of those types of modules in Max. Of course that project has gone on a tangent somewhere else now, but it was a great starting point for me and for that im glad i had a stab at modular as it sort of made me realise what it is im trying to acheive, albeit with little/no actual physical gear.
ha yep. Its easy to lose track when individual modules are relatively low cost but it racks up quickly. And when you take stock of everything that you have on your wishlist it gets into crazy-money territory
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The DN is a modern classic. Easily my favourite Elektron
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- Roland T8 (dismissed Roland since the XT pretty much, but this satisfies the Acid in me, and it’s great as a midi sequencer)
- Erica Synths Perkons HD-01 (sold lots of stuff to pre-order, but found the actual reality of it’s colour caused nausea as I’m colourblind, so gutted as I thought it would be the ultimate stinkybox)
The irony on the pricing is not lost on me 
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Hit - Syntakt
Miss - probably unpopular… Digitakt
Not sure - iPad. Loads of potential… Just haven’t dug in enough.
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Hit - Motu M4.
It ‘fixes’ audio for Windows in a way I haven’t seen before. Must be some magic in the drivers.
It also sounds noticeably better than the interfaces I’m used to (Tascam, AH), which I didn’t expect at the price.
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I got one a few months ago and totally agree. I switched back to Windows from MacOS for the first time in years at the same time as getting the interface, and my previous woes with Windows audio appear to be obsolete!
My hits this year:
Motu M4
HEDD Heddphone
Ifi ZenCan headphone amp
AnalogFX SER-2020!!!
Misses:
Analog Heat (it’s great, but not that useful in a lot of cases)
Dreadbox Typhon (great sound, not so great controls)
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Hit: Noise Engineering Manis Iteritas with Hoodie. Great sound and massive module. Free hoodie is nice too.