Are there too many synthesizers?In late October, some Sweetwater customers received notification that their pre-orders of the Behringer Pro-16 and VCS 3 were suddenly being cancelled. This came after the company exhibited a prototype of the Pro-16 — an emulation of the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 with 16 voices — at its booth at NAMM earlier this year.

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Users on a Reddit post about the cancellations guessed that this may be due to market saturation, with too many unpurchased instruments cluttering up warehouses and stock shelves. And with global tariffs, inflation and other economic woes hitting buyers hard in the purse, it wouldn’t be surprising if things had reached a breaking point, users said.
So what’s going on? Are there really too many synthesizers being released? We speak with Moog, Erica Synths, Black Corporation, and Molten Modular, synthesizer manufacturers of varying size, reach and price point, to find out.
A shift in buyer behaviour
First, the good news. “I wouldn’t describe today’s synthesizer market as oversaturated,” says Joe Richardson, the president of Moog Music and COO of InMusic. “What we’re really seeing is a shift in buyer behaviour.”
“With so much information available, buyers are taking more time to understand what sets instruments apart.” Joe argues that customers are weighing their options more than in the past, for example, “evaluating how analogue integrates into digital workflows, considering which effects matter most, and what premium each of these capabilities justifies.” In other words, they’re choosing with more intention.
And there’s never been more variety to pick from. “We’ve never had such a choice of synthesizers as we do now,” says Girts Ozolins, founder of Erica Synths. The price is also much lower than ever, putting previously unattainable instruments within the reach of workaday musicians. For example, “you can find the latest samplers at reasonable prices,” he points out. “Imagine getting a Fairlight 40 or 50 years ago when it came out. For 99.9% musicians, that was an inaccessible dream.”
“This abundance of choice can create buyer paralysis,” notes Joe, “but it also drives healthier innovation. The companies pushing forward, those delivering new ideas, inspired workflows, and genuine musical value, will define the next chapter.”
Competition creates innovation
Innovation is a common talking point. When asked if there are too many synthesizers on the market now, Girts responds: “Define ‘too many.’” Having grown up in the former Soviet Union, he has a unique perspective on the subject.
“If we ask the question, ‘Are there too many synthesizers?’ that means that we must consider some regulating body that will tell us specifically that we need this amount of synthesizers.” Rather, because we have a free market, manufacturers must create new innovations to survive.”
“This leads to a kind of arms race,” he continues, “and synthesizer manufacturers are forced to innovate to get something more unique.”
To illustrate, Girts points out the sheer variety of synthesizers available now compared to the 1970s and 1980s, when development was largely technologically driven. “For instance,” he says, “subtractive synthesizers emerged, and then all of a sudden, a lot of companies started their own subtractive synthesizer development with very few exceptions.” The challenge now, for manufacturers and engineers, Girts says, “is to actually come up with some substantial innovations in sound generation techniques, and unique user interfaces, or weird synthesizers, because the basics are covered.”
Joe points out that Moog’s recent Messenger has been successful precisely because of its innovations. “It was designed to be accessible,” he says, “yet it introduced genuinely new creative tools, like its wavefolding oscillator, expanded FM capabilities, Res Bass lift, and generative arpeggiator. These innovations resonated strongly. Artists and producers immediately adopted it into their setups.”
Holes in the market and new markets
Bob Rogue, the business manager at Black Corporation, is also positive in his outlook about the state of synthesizers. “A saturated market doesn’t exist,” he says. “There are still holes in the market.” Stating that there will always be someone who wants to buy whatever’s being made right now, he points to non-standard synthesizers and novelty as places where the market still has room to expand, such as “different formats like 5U or Eurorack, or making something weird like a 12U.”
Bob also points to Erica Synths’ Bullfrog, the semi-educational hybrid tabletop synthesizer made in conjunction with Richie Hawtin, as an example. “It’s not doing anything new from a synthesis standpoint, but it looks weird.” And that can be enough.
Another element to consider is the opening up of new markets. While 35% of synthesizer sales still happen in North America, emerging markets are already changing that. “Asia is a huge market that’s going up right now, especially in electronic music,” Bob points out. “India is blowing up, Korea is blowing up. Even Thailand’s got a techno scene. All these places are starting to inspire more interest in people wanting to make music.”
Retreat of the clones
One area where there may be saturation, however, is in clones of classic synths. “There are people making clones of things that don’t need to be cloned,” opines Bob. This may be where the Pro-16 ran into trouble. With many Prophet soundalikes already on the market in both hardware and plugin forms, Behringer may have decided that one more was unnecessary.
“We’re feeling the decline in enthusiasm because it’s all become so familiar,” says Robin Vincent of Eurorack channel, Molten Modular. “A lot of people have satisfied themselves with an abundance of synths and sounds, and in some ways that mission is complete.” Through brands like Behringer and others, he says, “people can have all the synths they ever dreamed of, but there’s a finite number of those nostalgic enthusiasts, and I think that Behringer is starting to feel that they’ve hit that number already and are going to end up with warehouses full of old synths.”
The state of Eurorack
Eurorack and modular synths have seen an explosive growth in the past decade. However, as with remakes, the market for new modules is now slowing down. “We were very much spoiled when Eurorack was growing exponentially,” laments Girts. “You could actually put out anything, and it would sell. We were lucky that we could surf on this wave of insane growth. Now [that] it’s slowing down, it’s getting more challenging.”
Bob of Black Corporation sees cloning within Eurorack as an area that’s experiencing less growth particularly. “People are less nerdy [about wanting something to sound exactly like the original now]. As the market of modular stuff grows, the sound-nerd specific group is not growing as fast. There are so many different factors to consider.”
On the other hand, Robin sees fluctuations in Eurorack sales as having reached a kind of equilibrium now. “There was a bump a couple of years ago when it felt like a huge chunk of people just thought ‘sod it’ and sold all their modular to get something more immediately useful like a Digitakt. But I think a more sensible level has been found that’s buoyant enough to keep the industry ticking over. It’s more holistic.”
Where do we go from here?
When asked about the challenges that synthesizer manufacturers are facing in 2025, Girts identifies creativity and accounting. “Creativity for developing a synth that will find its market, and accounting to get it to production. The more companies emerge, the more challenging it is to find the right customer.”
Joe also mentions creativity. “These are the deeper questions about how to design better instruments, anticipate the needs of modern musicians, and turn new ideas into innovative products. Our engineers and instrument designers rally around these opportunities and pressure-test ideas until they become truly great. Our strength has always come from transforming constraints into invention and pushing our craft forward.”
For Robin, the biggest challenge lies in a different direction: “The difficulty we have right now is access.” With traditional places for musicians to try before they buy, like music shops closing, and trade shows few and far between, he’s pushing for a more local approach. “The answer has to be more grassroots, more community-led,” Robin says. With that in mind, he’s started a monthly event in Norwich, UK, called Synth Picnic where people can try synths out and, if they wish, also buy. “I hope that it will inspire and attract new people into hardware synthesis and modular,” he says.
“More Moog synthesizers are being sold today than before,” notes Joe, highlighting just how healthy the market currently is. Ultimately, the message seems to be that there is still room for more synthesizers in the market, just as long as they can match the changing needs of customers.
“The companies pushing forward, those delivering new ideas, inspired workflows, and genuine musical value, will define the next chapter,” Joe says. “The synthesizer market isn’t oversaturated; it’s evolving.”
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