It looks like new US tariff taxes are starting to impact synth prices, with some prices jumping close to 70%.
The Trump administration recently announced a wide range of tax increases on goods imported into the US. The new tariffs promise to hit instrument prices hard, unfortunately, since almost all synths and electronic music gear is now either made in China, or made with Chinese parts.
People are reporting that pricing on Behringer gear spiked significantly overnight at some retailers. Here are a few examples:
Behringer Poly D Polyphonic Analog Synthesizer – was $569, now $629
Behringer Wave – was $599, now $689
Behringer Swing USB MIDI Keyboard Controller – was $99, now $169
Behringer Pro VS Mini Hybrid Vector Synthesizer – was $99, now $119
Behringer JT-4000 Micro Hybrid Modeling Synthesizer – was $49, now $70.90
Behringer UB-Xa 16-voice Bi-timbral Polyphonic Analog Synthesizer – was $999, now $1299
Behringer System 55 Eurorack Modular Synthesizer – was $1,599, now $1,899
It’s not clear yet how broadly tariffs will impact pricing across the music gear industry, but this is probably a taste of what’s to come.
What do you think about the new taxes and their impact on music gear prices in the US? Bad economic policy? Opportunistic price gouging? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Today, Sinevibes introduces Integer, a new digital-analog buffer delay effect for the Korg Multi-Engine synths, including the prologue, minilogue xd, NTS-1, NTS-1 mkII and NTS-3.
Integer is a digital-analog buffer delay plugin, now available for KORG’s first- and second-generation synthesizers. It’s built using variable sample rate technology: just like analog “bucket bridge device” chips, the algorithm uses a small fixed buffer and produces different delay times, by varying the speed of its internal read/write clock. Thus, as the clock speed changes, it also affects the sampling resolution, degrading the sound quality as the delay time is increased.
Features:
Studio-grade DSP algorithms, calibrated specifically for KORG’s hardware platform.
Individually chosen mapping for every plugin parameter, providing a very natural feel.
Built-in lag filters for noise-free, ultra-smooth parameter adjustment.
Tested and optimized for maximum performance and stability on each individual device type.
