Sequential
Sequential is a privately held, San Francisco-based musical instrument company founded in 1974 by Dave Smith, specializing in the design and sale of synthesizers and electronic instruments for professional musicians, studios, and sound designers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1974
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Sequential does
Sequential is a privately held, San Francisco-based musical instrument design and sales company. Founded in 1974 by Dave Smith — a recognized pioneer in analog synthesizer design and co-creator of the MIDI standard — the company specializes in the design and commercialization of electronic musical instruments under the Sequential brand, a name with deep historical equity in professional synthesizer culture tracing back to the original Sequential Circuits lineage.
The company operates with a small team of 1–10 employees, consistent with a boutique, high-end instrument maker business model. Its core products historically center on analog and hybrid synthesizer architectures targeted at professional musicians, recording studios, sound designers, and high-end hobbyists. Distribution is implied to occur through the company's own website (sequential.com) and a likely network of musical instrument dealers and distributors, though the supplied input does not detail specific channel mix, pricing tiers, or unit economics. No product catalog, pricing model, or revenue mechanics were disclosed in the source data.
Data on revenue, pricing, customer composition, partnerships, recent product launches, and other strategic activity is sparse in the supplied input; the company website returned only a verification/loading page at the time of data collection, and no third-party financial, funding, or partnership information was available. Beyond the founder designation for Dave Smith, no management team, board, or investor information was provided. The description above should therefore be treated as a baseline characterization grounded in the firmographic and leadership fields only, with material gaps acknowledged in subsequent analytical sections.
Sequential firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Sequential
- Website
- https://sequential.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1974
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Sequential is a privately held, San Francisco-based musical instrument company founded in 1974 by Dave Smith, specializing in the design and sale of synthesizers and electronic instruments for professional musicians, studios, and sound designers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Sequential industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Musical Instruments
- NAICS
- Musical Instrument Manufacturing (339992), Musical Instrument and Supplies Retailers (459140)
- SIC
- Musical Instruments (3931)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Music Production Hardware (Synthesizers, Drum Machines, Samplers, MIDI Controllers) (MPAIAJAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Musical Instruments (Acoustic & Electric) (MPAIAJAA), Pro Audio & Recording Equipment Retail (MI-adjacent) (CRALAEAC)
Keywords
Where Sequential is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Sequential business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales
Sequential product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Sequential specializes in the design and sale of musical instruments. The company produces electronic musical instruments, most notably professional-grade synthesizers, serving musicians, producers, and audio professionals seeking hardware-based sound design tools.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Musical Instruments Electronic musical instruments designed and sold by Sequential, serving musicians, producers, and audio professionals.
Companies that use Sequential
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
Sequential technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Sequential competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Behringer: Behringer has aggressively released low-cost hardware synth clones of classic Sequential, Moog, and Roland designs. While it competes only on price and scale rather than design pedigree, it has reshaped the affordable end of the same market Sequential addresses.
- Novation: Novation, part of Focusrite, makes hardware synths and controllers (Peak, Summit, Bass Station). It targets a similar electronic-music creator audience with more affordable price points, making it adjacent rather than head-to-head with Sequential's premium line.
- Pittsburgh Modular: Pittsburgh Modular is a small US-based boutique synth and modular maker (Taiga, Voltage Lab). It targets a similar prosumer electronic-musician segment with a comparable small-team, design-driven identity.
- ASM (Ashun Sound Machines): ASM is a boutique maker of the Hydrasynth series, a digital/wavetable polyphonic synthesizer that competes in the same premium hybrid-synth segment as Sequential's Pro 3 and Prophet-6. Smaller and more recent than Sequential, but directly competitive.
- Make Noise: Make Noise is a US-based boutique modular synthesizer and shared-system platform maker (0-Coast, Maths, QPAS). It serves the same adventurous electronic music community as Sequential but specializes in modular/Eurorack rather than polysynths.
Broad incumbents
- Korg: Korg is a major Japanese musical instrument manufacturer with a broad synthesizer and keyboard lineup (Minilogue, Prologue, Wavestate, MS-20). Although much larger and broader than Sequential, Korg is comparable because it sells premium polyphonic synthesizers to the same professional and prosumer market segments.
- Roland: Roland is a large Japanese instrument manufacturer whose iconic synth families (Juno, Jupiter, System-8, Boutiques) directly target Sequential's market. Roland is a broad incumbent with a much wider product portfolio but is among the most direct competitive threats in the high-end synth category.
Direct peers
- Arturia: Arturia is a French manufacturer of hardware synthesizers (MicroFreak, MatrixBrute, PolyBrute) and one of the leading music software plugin makers. It overlaps directly with Sequential on premium hybrid synths and competes for the same prosumer audience, while extending further into the software-defined market.
- Elektron: Elektron is a Swedish boutique hardware maker of analog/digital hybrid synths, samplers, and sequencers (Analog Four, Digitakt, Syntakt). It targets the same professional electronic music producers as Sequential with similar price points and a comparable boutique, design-led ethos.
- Moog Music: Moog is the closest direct peer to Sequential — both are US-based boutique synthesizer manufacturers focused on premium analog and analog/digital hybrid instruments sold to professional and prosumer musicians. The two companies compete head-to-head in the high-end polysynth and monosynth categories and share the same customer base.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat2 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Sequential social profiles
Digital presenceSequential financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Sequential leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Sequential funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Sequential M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Sequential
What does Sequential do?
Sequential specializes in the design and sale of musical instruments. The company produces electronic musical instruments, most notably professional-grade synthesizers, serving musicians, producers, and audio professionals seeking hardware-based sound design tools.
Is Sequential a public or private company?
Sequential is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Sequential founded?
Sequential was founded in 1974. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Sequential based?
Sequential is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Sequential's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Behringer, Novation, Pittsburgh Modular, ASM (Ashun Sound Machines) and Make Noise. Broad incumbents are Korg and Roland. Direct peers are Arturia, Elektron and Moog Music.
Does Sequential have an API?
No public API is recorded for Sequential.
What industry is Sequential in?
Sequential's product category is Musical Instruments. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAIAJAE, Music Production Hardware (Synthesizers, Drum Machines, Samplers, MIDI Controllers), with a secondary code of MPAIAJAA, Musical Instruments (Acoustic & Electric). Its NAICS code is 339992 and its SIC code is 3931.