Love that!
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What guilt? If it’s truly unique and irreplaceble then you’ll use it sooner or later 
I have MicroFreak which I don’t use now… But I will, I swear ))
I have Neutron. When I’ll need some weird sounds then I’ll put it out of the box and it will be my synth-star again!
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If I can neglect some of my friends, I think I can do it with Synths too.
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Use it or lose it. Buy it back if you miss it.
I’ve got a Reface CP coming that I’ve sorely missed.
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OTOH we’re also not here for validating/justifying someone’s self-imposed blockers.
We understand them!
But getting over one’s bullshit and having power over that self-indulgent narrative is also step one.
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I think I haven’t sold even one synth I bought. No regrets.
You know what I made with all the shame? I am now building every synth its own place in a group of 3-5 other drummachines/synths etc. pp (so like Digis together … A4 and AR as a group … or Teenage Engineering stuff). Then connect everything with everything MIDI and audio wise. I mean honestly why did we buy all of this? Isn’t this the final destination? Everything is connected works, all your favorite synths … embedded into a beautiful studio with logical groups / audio workstations for having endless fun for the rest of our lives – honestly. I am having a hard time watching my grandparents becoming demented… they haven’t had any fun in their last 10 years or so. I imagine our generations to be more open minded even with 90, right? Pop some acid and turn on the studio for some bleeps and bloops?? Why the hell not?
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I sold 2 and I regret. Now I don’t sell gear I am not using at a time. If I need to find space for something new I am removing the least used from the rack, pack it to the box and hide in the storage place. When I want to use it I just unpack it again, connect to the interface and it’s ready to rock. Sometimes it becomes again the most used piece of the gear 
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Is there a thread for trading unused gear ?
After a while, it’s good to let it go.
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If we don’t do something globally, we won’t have fun for the next 10+ years to come.
Now, to stay on topic … no guilt.
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You might be a nicer person than me because I have a problem with irrational gear resentment. I will slowly grow to dislike something, usually unfairly, and sell it. I’ll dislike the gear so much I’ll feel bad for the person buying it.
This is what I hope about myself in future. If I manage to live that long I would love to have all of my toys with me and play all day long. If only there is enough health for doing so.
No guilt here.
Only about 10% or less of my acquired gear is set up at any given time, which includes over 50 synths/workstations, 25 drum machines/groove boxes, 50 outboard rack units, 20 mics, and other stuff (guitars, basses, amps, effect pedals, DJ gear, brass instruments, etc.). When a piece of gear is purchased, I just consider it a sunk cost and rarely sell anything.
With that said, I have been involved in music for over 30 years and love variety. Gear is eventually rotated in and out.
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Being ITB an be overwhelming this too, especially when you have too many plugins that you forget how to use. That said , there isn’t a solid answer because tbh even owning a DAW is probably too much to learn in a lifetime.
Instead of feeling guilty about unused stuff, I mostly get bogged down overthinking about the best combination of tools to use. That’s usually when I get frustrated with myself for having too much software. Funnily enough that’s exactly why I’m going to have a crack at using no plugins at all. The idea is to help me confirm in my head where Ableton shines and where plugins might be worth adding back in. I’ve even thought about going back to Ableton for creative ideas and Logic for stem seperation/mastering and tools like BeatBreaker/StepFX. Between them they cover most of the developments in 3rd party plugins for one thing. And there’s basically no maintenance or upkeep, plus between them there aren’t any plugins they don’t cover. (I don’t fancy my chances of doing more than a few months like this, but you never know…)
I understand the feeling of “wasting” stuff you’ve paid for by not using it, but I have no guilt about it (maybe because you can’t see SW!) Instead I try to remind myself about the sunk cost fallacy, where you let previous purchases cloud your future decisions. I tend to find that escaping any worry about overwhelm, and just boxing off a few things to use in your head (applies to HW or SW) that’s where everything comes together. This can even work in a room full of unused synths or a folder full of 26 compressors. But if you can get over that sunk cost effect, you can make progress. At some point you just have to pull the plug on the overthinking (and I say that as a chronic overthinker) and choose something to make stuff with.
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Exactly. Guilt about imaginary sins helps nobody, decisiveness, decision-making is the solution.
Not handwringing!
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Sounds like a form of Fear of Failure, otherwise you would have sold it by now
I never sell gear. But I also make sure I don’t go beyond a satisfying usable combo of hardware. I’m no pro, so once I’ve added the two last missing parts I’ll probably be fine for a very long time.
I wouldn’t call it guilt, it’s more like a burden that I should use it more. It helps if I box it, but best is to just sell it, unless I’m really pretty sure that I’ll need it in the future. No regrets yet. Well, maybe one little regret is selling my very first synth Yamaha PSS-140 (long time ago), but it’s questionable if it would still power on if I kept it anyway…
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I sometimes feel guilty for not being able to produce good music out of a decent instrument.