I mentioned this earlier. It is the plan to weaken the dollar and they want the rest of the world to keep using it 
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Iām very worried about this as I earn in usd but live in a non usd country. I was already earning less than everyone here, now Iām getting fucked fr 
That is my concern also. Although TBF those Behringer clones are not going to be super cheap in future, eitherā¦
Another potential outcome is that manufacturers raise prices outside the US to try to absorb some of the input costs in the US market and soften price impacts for US consumers. If that happens (and there are already suggestions from some economists that the big US tech manufacturers like Apple will do exactly that), then everyone will suffer, not just US musicians.
A more optimistic view is that hardware synths will become more expensive but so will computer hardwareā¦ upgrading an old computer to run more or better plugins will be far more expensive than in the past. In that context, a hardware synth that covers a lot of ground sonically (like a Digitone 2) may still make sense from the consumerās perspective.
But it will take a lot longer to save up the money to buy gear, and perhaps people will learn to hold onto the gear they have for longer, and have to learn to get more out of what they have alreadyā¦
I think there is a hard upper limit on hardware though, as it is now pure luxury. People will just turn to software at greater rates if a decent āintro levelā analog poly costs that much.
If demand for music hardware was inelastic Iād generally agree with you, but I would wager large sums it is elastic - people will simply buy less as the price goes up. At some point, that means intro level products are not worth it to produce.
So, yes, we can expect prices to go up and also products to disappear (as they will not sell) and also smaller makers (eurorack, especially) to vanish.
There was just a post on r/modular by JakesCustomShop outlining how his cost for PCBs and knobs will essentially quadruple so his price for modules will need to double - if that sort of rise is common across the board for euro makers I believe people will just buy less euro rather than settle on the idea that modules cost twice as much. They are wants and not needs, anyway - and I donāt see how fixed architecture synths and grooveboxes will be much different. Especially if compute hardware prices remain low.
A good video to watch.
Long video, so one takeaway is how prices are assigned by Some pedal makers using a flat price knowing theyāll make up profits lost on expensive to produce items, by selling cheaper to produce items at that same price.
This could apply to all of us even if the tariffs are a US thing.
Overall, Iāve seen different messages from small makers saying theyāll do all they can to absorb what costs they can, but ultimately prices would go up.
From De-fi
Makers of Outputs Platform desk and other hardware (sidecar, speaker stands & Barefoot monitor partnership)
Trying to keep it all rated G.
I intended that as rated g but your right, I donāt belong in these threads anyways!
None of us belong in this thread really. Bunch of creatives thrust into deciphering effects of things outside the normal scope.
Ha! Honestly surprised it reopened!
my plan of attack is to learn how to solder and seize the means of production (try to build my own synth modules)
That would be true if that bunch was made of professional creatives ā¦
Iād guess that most small parts will be affected, though, so even small DIY stuff will double or triple in price.
Itās a great time for people to get into UI design for software, though.
Come to think of it, this may well mark the end of the hardware renaissance. It had to happen somehow, and this is as good a cause as any.
sure, but thats not enough of a reason to hang up the hat and call it quits. better to become more powerful while the world falls apart
Iād argue that software development will be the new power, but best stock up on the good solder now if you donāt agree!
I look forward, one day, to being back in the world when threads like this werenāt a thing in every feed in my socials, every day (and I donāt follow politics that much BTW, threads like this are everywhere across multiple hobbies and interests IME).
In the meantimeā¦ here we areā¦ and this thread is central to what all of us will be thinking the next time we want to buy gear. I wish we could avoid it but, really, we canātā¦ 
I think itās more likely to mark the end of hardware GAS rather than hardware itself. Suddenly, bringing my DT1 down from the shelf and using it again is looking a lot more attractive than buying a DN2 and a DT2ā¦
Yes, but the renaissance as we have experienced it over the last decade or so was driven, in part, by consumer demand. If that dries up weāll see fewer products.
Probably not the end of the world because outside of a handful of examples there wasnāt really much innovation going on, anyway.
For the DIY hardware doers ( analog or digital with itās own SW ) ā Info on component part tariff in US, see these two sources.
https://www.mouser.com/section-301-tariff-updates/
Note : This is not in furtherance of the perennial HW vs SW debate, which needs to find a new thread.
The thing is this will only apply to US sales. While those are a big part of the global market for musical instruments, I think the US still spends less on āpureā electronic music gear than, say, guitars and drums. Since China dominates manufacturing in many sectors I think US music retailers and consumers are going to get hit very hard, imagine what will happen to the price of workstations and other keyboards.
When I say āpureā electronic gear I mean gear for electronic music in particular, not keyboards that might be equally at home in a rock band or church. I think the US market for bleep blorp devices is smaller than Europe & Asia. It could even be good for some US manufacturers like Moog and Novation that face reduced competition. So I think there will still be a healthy global market for Eurorack manufacturers (unless these tariffs end up setting off a massive global recession). It is not suddenly more expensive for a Eurorack manufacturer in Europe or Australia or Japan to source components and PCB runs from China than it was last month. Likewise there will still be a market for Volcas and other entry-level gear.
I suppose it depends on how big the US market is for the more niche stuff. I donāt expect workstations or arrangers to go anywhere, but $2k and up monotimbral polys (just for example) might become less worth bringing to market.
Iām curious how many Prophet-5s are sold in the Eurozone, for example. Is that market + Asia and South Pacific enough to keep making them (though, maybe not if reaction tariffs get bad)? Maybe, most of the work is done. Is it worth designing a new similarly priced flagship? Thatās what I doubt very much.
Perhaps the big flagship analog poly thing has just about run its course now - maybe a few smaller makers will keep things alive (and what will naturally be higher prices simply because volume is low) sort of like how things were in the early 2000s. Music marched on, though, and thereās tons of used stuff in the pipeline, far far more than there was in the 90s.