The real future is software, especially composition integrated with DSP. Not aimless generative nonsense based on randomly reshuffling arrays and maybe snapping them to a harmonic grid, but complex, composed architectures of sound.
Some of them may not even have a bass drum on every quarter beat - a bit radical, but who knows what the future holds?
1970s-style modular synthesis has been making a comeback over the last... 20 years. (It was a slow comeback at first).
I agree that the impact of synthesizers was diminished during the "preset era" of the 1980s until almost the present, but interest in re-taking control of synths is growing (just look up "modular synthesis" on Youtube to see many examples) and I expect that we're on the cusp of having synthesis become interesting again as artists sort out what to do with all the new stuff.
The hardware is simply an interface. The preferred interface for most musicians.
That "aimless generative nonsense" brings plenty of joy to its creators and listeners and for many there are more important goals than "complexity" (which is generally considered a bug not a feature in other areas).
I seriously think the current era of modular synths and analog devices is to quantum computing what radio electronics kits of the 50s and 60s were to the personal computer. We're only a decade or two from a quantum Hewlett-Packard or Woz-Jobs garage-style project. That time goes by very fast.
Eurorack is completely booming at the moment. We are quite literally living in a synth golden age. everything from very boring Behringer clones of old synths to all the cutting edge DSP in Eurorack and wacky combinations of audio synthesis techniques, its all there.
but don't get me wrong, 12-tet is an incredible accomplishment on its own. but it's what it is because of (now obsolete) physical constraints of instrument building.
I've been trying to think about how to go beyond 12 tet for years. I recently read this quote on a (unrelated nothing to do with music) book[1] "So it's a bit like a piano that has a meta-key that lets you add new keys." which summarizes my goal better than I've ever been able to.
[1] https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Don%27t+Teach+Coding%3A+Until+Yo...
The GGP post stating that we’re somehow in an ebb-tide of synth programming quality and musicality probably doesn’t have much of an ear to what’s being created.