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.