Moog Synth Prices Are Rising – Here’s Why

If you’ve been watching Moog synth prices in the last week or so, you’ve probably noticed that some prices are going up.

Any price increases are bad news for buyers. But, while some sites have shared click-bait articles hyping Moog’s biggest increases, many of Moog’s prices increases don’t keep up with inflation or the increased taxes on imported parts:

  • The Moog Sound Studio 3 was $1,999 USD when it was introduced. Now the street price is $2,099, about 5% more.
  • The Moog Matriarch was introduced with a street price of about $2,000. Now it’s listing for about 10% more, around $2,200.
  • The Mother-32 and was introduced with a street price of about $600. Now it’s listing for $699. This is about a 15% increase, which $50 less than what you’d expect if the price had kept up with inflation.
  • The Moog One 16-voice price has jumped from $7,999 to $8,999. This is a big price increase, but about $500 less than what you’d expect based on inflation alone, since 2018.
  • The Moog Subsequent 37 was introduced at $1,499. It’s retailing for $1,899 USD, about a 27% increase.
  • The Moog Grandmother has one of the biggest price jumps and is the biggest outlier. The Grandmother was $899 USD when it was introduced. Now it’s listing with a $1,249 street price, close to a 40% jump. Inflation has been about 18% since the Grandmother was introduced. So what accounts for the bigger price jump? Moog isn’t saying, but the Grandmother was introduced a month before the Trump administration imposed a 25% tax on electrical components imported from China. At the time, Moog said that “These tariffs will immediately and drastically increase the cost of building our instruments.”

What’s the official word on these price increases? Here’s what Moog has to say about it:

“The ongoing global challenges of material shortages, supply chain limitations, inflation, as well as rising raw goods and shipping costs, have made it necessary to adjust some of our pricing. A price increase is not a decision we take lightly, but one that is needed to ensure we can continue delivering the high-quality products you deserve.

Thank you for your understanding. Please contact us if you have any further questions.”

While Moog has the brand clout to raise prices, many smaller companies – like Synthesizers.com, Future Retro and WMD – are being driven out of business by the current global economic environment. Others, like Behringer, have had to resort to describing recent introductions, like their Synthi VCS 3 knockoff, ‘hardvaporware’, because they can’t get the parts that they need to put their new designs into production.

Expect synth prices to keep increasing until global supply chain issues get resolved. Unfortunately, nobody has a good answer on when we can expect that to happen.

45 thoughts on “Moog Synth Prices Are Rising – Here’s Why”

    1. Ahhh ummm, did they ACTUALLY unionize though? I haven’t seen if it was successful yet.

      …but seriously with inflation and semiconductor shortages I think they had to adjust to stay afloat. Other companies chose not to or couldn’t stomache charging customers more so they closed up shop. Inform me if any of this is wack.

      1. don’t you know that if someone speculate on the internet something negative about a company it’s automatically true? apparently you only need a proof for the good things…

          1. Generally companies don’t make press releases to disclose their methods for union busting. And yes the efforts to bust a union ramp up after a union is formed.

            1. “generally” means nothing if you state something negative based on assumption with no facts.
              my point is “stop imagine the worse is automatically right”,
              it doesn’t makes you sounds smarter or have an interesting point of view,
              the world is not against you, it’s just you against the world…

    3. even if that was the case (it isn’t; behringer synths have risen in price as well, after all) then i’d be fine with it and happily pay more for their products because unionized workplaces are a good thing.

    4. “And they really expect us to believe that unionization has nothing to do with it?”

      Moog hasn’t said anything to that effect, and the unionization process is just started.

      Troll failure!

    5. A group of Moog employees has organized in an effort to *vote* on becoming unionized. If the majority of eligible workers don’t want it, it won’t happen. There has been silence on that front for a while. Either it’s taking a long time to organize, or there is little broad interest.

      Either way, it doesn’t relate to the story at hand; inflation is hitting companies hard. Trump’s idiotic 25% tariff on Chinese-made goods is hitting companies hard. Sales are falling as people face the realities of inflation.

    6. So what if that is the case? Do you think they were selling at cost before that? And honesty Everything else in the planet seems normal to you but for Moog’s prices?

  2. This isn’t a sudden thing. The prices on the M-32, DFAM all increased a year or two ago about the time the Sub was released.

    I’m pretty sure the Grandmother increased too since release prior to this new increase.

    Biden hasn’t changed anything about the component tariff either, so it’s fair to say it’s US policy now and not just a Trump thing. Shit either way.

    1. There are enough M-32 & DFAMs out there that you can snag them used on Reverb for about $500 or so, if you’re patient. They’re built so well that both my M-32’s and my DFAM arrived looking like new.

      I do think you have to ask why Biden hasn’t done anything about reversing the Trump component tariff. Tariffs are popular with politicians, because they can pretend that they’re punishing China or whatever. But they’re just taxes that US companies or individuals end up paying and they mess with the natural market dynamics as a result.

      The Trump tax probably raises a metric assload of tax revenue, because so many components are made in China and because their prices have doubled or more in the last couple of years. But getting rid of the tax would immediately save companies like Moog and WMD and Future Retro a quarter of their cost on most of their electronics parts, which would be hugely beneficial to small US manufacturers.

      1. Component costs are seldom very high part for total cost of a finished product. Cases, workmanship and designwork and advertisement often are far higher…

      2. I had a Mother-32 and two DFAMS. I now have three DFAMS. Epic machine. They did nail it on that one and it deserves some 901/921 2.0 love that if they cared would happen.

    2. Here are the major pain points we (KMI) are facing, in order of significance:

      1) Parts shortages. The microcontroller we use in most of our controllers has increased in cost by 500% if you can wait 6 months, or 1700% if you need it now.

      2) Shipping. Containers have gone from $2,500 to $15,000. For air freight, we were just quoted $2,500 to ship five 20lb boxes of product, coming out to an extra $25 per item shipped.

      3) Cost of raw materials. For us this is aluminum and silicone, which is up about 20% in the last two years.

      4) Tariffs. If the other three items weren’t an issue then I might have time to complain about the 2-3% increase we’ve seen in tariffs, but honestly it pales in comparison to the above 3.

      Whoever brought up Unions or slave labor doesn’t work in the manufacturing side of the industry.

    1. i’m surprised it’s external, usually the “big ones” have this built in. i know some prefer internal psu for stage and some associate iec connector with better quality but for studio use i prefer external power supply, dc cables are much easier to hide and i also think it’s better to have low power dc next to sensitive audio cables than high power ac. for some reason most of my synths with internal psu and low power ac input are “noisier” like -70/-60db at 50/60hz, not an issue and i don’t know if its because its internal but still, i for one prefer the externals.

      1. It is all good but the main reason why is external is not for audio finesse but cos it is cheaper for them. They do not have to build a qualified FCC Certification PS .This is ok on a 500 e thing but it is unforgivable on the ONE for that price. You can design a quiet internal PS if you want to very easily

        1. you don’t have to design “qualified FCC Certification PS” anyway, you just order internal one from meanwell like most others with internal psu do (sequential for example)
          like you i can only guess it is motivated by cost but if its cheaper and “better” what wrong with that? no high voltage inside, easier to deal with power cables and also any power supply failure can be remedy by just replacing it, even when considering the connector is unique with 4 pin XLR it is still easier than to ship the all synthesizer to the dealer. i understand this complaint but i think its usually comes from this old thinking that internal power supply is better.

  6. I would still like a One16 someday, or a C15 :0). not a big price increase given the current/past global status. I only hope Roland goes before these guys do; I never liked Roland stuff. lol

  7. the whole world is going through a reckoning at the moment, as people are finally forced to come to terms with all the incredibly stupid (and/or self-destructive) decisions they have made while building it

    like the decision to use Chinese slave labor as the primary resource for technology manufacturing, for example…

    along with SO MANY MORE

  8. When the Roland Juno-X was first announced a few months back, it was to be $1999 street price. However, they retail everywhere today for $2099, and extremely difficult to get your hands on one. I feel Roland has also been hit by the big picture here too, but they are probably eating some of the cost increases, and doing what they can to get some units pumped out. Just my two cents (which will be worth a nickel in about three years)

    1. i guess a corporation with 3000 employees have much more wiggle room and ways to deal with this crisis than a brand with about 50. seems the small ones showed the signs first but if your products is relatively successful you can ramp up the price of revised versions (like teenage engineering) if not you can discontinued products (like bastl thyme) or filing a bankruptcy.

  9. If you’re talking about jacked up prices because of the chip shortage, REV2 16 voice serves as example. It used to be $1999. Now it’s $2599. The one that is commonly sold right now is the 8 voice, and that’s going for as much as the 16 voice originally sold for.

    1. Yeah, the significant REV2 price hike was a deal breaker for me. I was saving my buck buck bucks (see Al of Al’s Toy Barn) and eyeing a REV2 for a long time, but the jacked up prices steered me away.

    2. i can see some still sell the keyboard version for 2099 pounds included vat (2075$ ex vat) and the module 1690 pounds (about 1670$ ex vat) but even for 2.5k$ it still a bargain.

  10. Living in Europe I don’t think Moog synths are the only products with rising prices.
    Petrol, rent, food, electricity, gas, … everything needed to live a decent life – which seems more important to me than a Moog synth, which in my opinion are overpriced since + 40 years – have reached unreasonable prices ex. 2 dollar/1 L petrol. Furthermore it is unpossible to buy Chinese products here without having to pay extremely high import taxes and customs taxes, these taxes sometimes exceed the price of the product itself. The Ukrain war is used as an excuse to explain every price raise even from products that have absolutely nothing to do with this conflict in any way.
    My point is that life is getting unreasonable expensive in every way, politicians however seem to have other worries. Same story everywhere I’m afraid.

  11. Frankly Moog is over rated and its debatable if their products are even worth the price. There are sooooo many better and lower cost alternatives.

  12. We have to get used to having less of everything, including synths. Maybe rising prices for electronics are a good thing. Buy one synth you because you really want it instead of 5 just because you can.

  13. i kept trying to convince myself i didn’t need or even want a Moog. when i finally gave in and got the Matriarch i turned it on started playing and immediately knew why Moog is so beloved. the feel build quality and sound really immerse you. i know Moog has adopted a hipster marketing approach and there is tons of hype but they do make fantastic instruments which can give years of return on the investment in the joy of playing and utilizing in recordings.

    1. I see Moog as the Harley Davidson of synths.

      It’s not for everybody, but you know exactly what the brand represents and, if it’s what you want they deliver the goods.

      I’ve got the Moog dark trio of Eurorack synths and they are all fantastic.

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