It has hit oversaturation just not in the right way (mono synths, volca series gizmos and mini Keys) perhaps though this was all about testing the water and getting some income to build bigger things.
The monosynth craze is hitting critical mass. It's like going to buy an acoustic guitar; you can buy one for under 100 moneys that may be clunky, awkward to play and dubious sounding, but you can get one for under 100 moneys. Or you can get one for 20x that.
With regards to Korg; I like to think things like the Volcas are market-researching hors d'oeuvres. The only really complete product from that range is the Kick, with all the other boxes being basically advanced Monotrons. The miniKeys are definitely in for the long haul from what I can see. I like that they seem to have finished with their re-issues and re-imaginings and are looking forward not backwards.
Korg P******* analog or hybrid poly synth. Could still be anything. Either something full-sized based on the Minilogue and Monologue, or a hybrid follow-up to the King Korg.
Arturia could very well be cooking up an analog poly as well. They definitely have a new synth coming up.
Dunno about Roger Linn. The next bigger project might be the long planned LinnDrum II, but that may still take a while.
Yamaha could finally release the FM half of the Montage, but I assume that won't happen. (Not that I lose any sleep over this.)
Roland might come out with more cloud stuff and an ACB-based flagship because the Jupiter-80 and 50 have just been discontinued. (Again, nothing that I find too exciting anyway.)
Moog? - No idea, really. I don't expect huge news yet, as the Subsequent 37 has just been released. Maybe rather around the time of the next Moogfest.
Elektron might have the Rytm MKII ready by then, although it should start shipping by the end of this month already. With all of their MKII releases, I don't expect any major news in January. Maybe a new keyboard version of the Analog Four.
I'm curious whether this young designer made any progress on the Relic-6.
Not sure about the dozens of really small manufacturers or software. There's simply too much and the interesting stuff also doesn't always lead to big headlines. I'm looking forward to Nick Batt's coverage, though.
It's going to be interesting to see whether anything will indicate if the whole analog market may be hitting the point of oversaturation soon.
Arturia are due a new hardware product and I'm hoping they are feeling the hybrid call with a combination of the Origin and their Brute series forth coming. I am really looking forward to a KeyStep Pro or a step-sequencing workstation that has the Key Step and Beat Step concepts mushed together on a KeyLab or even MiniLab controller. I find Arturia's mini keys on the Key Step are very playable with my long skeletal fingers and being a step sequencer, it's not like accuracy of playing is really a concern. Currently my Key Step and BSP are sitting on a custom stand and used basically as one unit.
I'm with you on the idea of letting Nick tell me all about what's good from the smaller peeps, heheh.
In my mind, the resurgence of analogue effects combined with Roland scrambling to catch up to Korg and Yamaha's 'member-berry releases in glorious analogue formats, the indicator of critical mass has already arrived. The Peak I hope is a sign of what we will be seeing more of, not the SE-02.
Boutiques have attained that "okay you can stop now" status. Too many one man operations for the level of pokemon synth buyers in today's market (gotta catch them all!) and it's ushering in a acceptance of shitty plastic boxes for housing of perceived artisan synths, not to mention one-man support is always slow. Please modular world, keep your musings in your racks unless you are willing to work with wood or steel! I don't want it to stop really, it's put the wind up the big guys in a good way, but I want it evolve into a mature subset of a mature market. Put the prices up and remove the toy element and we are at where Elektron started their climb to greatness.
(whatever happened with Paul Maddox's wave I wonder....ooh he has an entry in Wikipedia, cool!)