In this update: The AI028 Voltage Controlled Matrix Mixer is now shipping, Tariffs and Outlook, Growth is Stable but sales are down, a Portland Synth Expo, and Silver is back in style!

The AI028 Voltage Controlled Matrix Mixer is a 6-input, 6-output Matrix Mixer, with 36 Linear VCAs to control how much each input is fed to each output (0-5V). The Module can distribute audio and/or control voltage, and has a dedicated 5V output for use with passive or active attenuators for manual volume control.

Tariffs and Outlook – Spoiler Alert: Bad

First some background. There are tariffs, which is a tax makers pay on imports, and there is a thing called de minimis. While The first Trump Presidency and Biden’s term placed a 25% tax on imports from China, there was a De minimis exception that allowed anything under $800 to come in without the tax. Most of us makers were able to keep our orders low to avoid the tariff. It is basically impossible/insensible to make a eurorack device without interfacing with China either partially or totally. Us factories just don’t do this, or if they do, they do it for DOD money and don’t want to deal with us.
In February of 2025, Trump raised the China tariff to 35% and removed De minimis, causing chaos as USPS suddenly had to figure out how to collect tariffs on the 4 million De minimis packages the CBP processes EVERY DAY. Yes, every day. Days later, on February 5th Trump reinstated De minimis.

Yesterday a bunch of crazy tariffs were announced. China now has a combined 54%, 20% on the EU, 24% from Japan, 32% from Taiwan, and 46% on Vietnam.In addition, De minimus will change starting in May, with “All relevant postal items containing goods that are sent through the international postal network that are valued at or under $800 and that would otherwise qualify for the de minimis exemption are subject to a duty rate of either 30% of their value or $25 per item (increasing to $50 per item after June 1, 2025).

So the TLDR is that in a market that is already pretty saturated, it will, one way or another, become ~50% more expensive to make a thing. In addition to that, with the other high tariffs, I expect even more layoffs in an already pretty bad job market. So even if I do make a thing, will anyone be able to afford it at its current price? It seems impossible to raise my prices 50% and still have a market for them.

At last night’s secret League of Evil Makers meet up, the vibe was that the part-timers are probably not going to be able to put stuff out, and the full timers would have to find another line of income. My personal take away is that I need to find a part time job. Hopefully I can get some dog walking work, as I’m pretty unemployable otherwise. Feel free to send non-person facing gigs 🙂

Of course, maybe this will be such a shit show that the whole thing blows up. A bi-partisan anti tariff bill did pass the senate last night but it will die in the house. Congress does have the power to revoke tariff authority if it wants to.

My monthly maker meet up group contains combined decades of experience doing this, so I assure you we are constantly exploring and sharing ways to continue to make weird things for you to make weird music with.

PDX Synth and Pedal Expo

There is a free Synth and Pedal Expo April 12-13 at JaJa in SE Portland. I will be there. Come say hello.

A lot of people misunderstand this graph. It is NOT dire bad news. It is inevitable maturation news. This shows the percentage of more modules compared to the prior year listed on modulargrid.net. The data is bad, but it’s all we have. It shows that as of January 1, there were 12% more modules than had ever existed the prior year. This does indicate a maturation and saturation compared to the head days of 2017 when there were 30% more modules that had ever existed on the 1st of 2016. Really this means that you can’t just put out a basic thing and hope it would sell the way you could back then.

In strange news, after years of Black panels being dominant, 2025 has shown a real preference for silver aluminum modules. Just an interesting tid bit.

Ok done writing – gotta go play basketball. Stay safe and be nice to each other.

With love,

Abe from AI Synthesis (my initials, not garbage AI – think DSI, ARP, etc…)