David Joseph Smith (April 2, 1950 – May 31, 2022) was an American engineer and founder of the

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

company

Sequential In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is calle ...

. Smith created the first polyphonic synthesizer with fully programmable memory, the

Prophet-5 The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen in 1977, who used microprocessors, then a new technology, to create the first polyphonic synthesizer with full ...

, which had a major impact on the music industry. He also led the development of

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and rel ...

, a standard interface protocol for synchronizing electronic instruments and audio equipment. In 2005, Smith was inducted into the Mix Foundation TECnology (Technical Excellence and Creativity) Hall of Fame for the MIDI specification. In 2013, he and the Japanese businessman

Ikutaro Kakehashi , also known by the nickname Taro, was a Japanese engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur. He founded the musical instrument manufacturers Ace Tone, Roland Corporation, and Boss Corporation, and the audiovisual electronics company ATV Corporation. K ...

received a

Technical Grammy Award The Technical Grammy Award is a Special Merit Grammy Award presented to individuals or companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field. The award was first presented in 1994 to Dr. Thomas G. S ...

for their contributions to the development of MIDI.

Career

Smith was born on April 2, 1950 in San Francisco. He had degrees in both Computer Science and Electronic Engineering from

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

Sequential Circuits and Prophet-5

He purchased a

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

in 1972 and later built his own analog sequencer, founding

Sequential Circuits Sequential is an American synthesizer company founded in 1974 as Sequential Circuits by Dave Smith. In 1978, Sequential released the Prophet-5, the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer; it became a market leader and industry standard, used ...

in 1974 and advertising his product for sale in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...

''. By 1977 he was working at Sequential full-time, and later that year he designed the

Prophet 5 The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen in 1977, who used microprocessors, then a new technology, to create the first polyphonic synthesizer with ful ...

, the world's first microprocessor-based musical instrument and also the first programmable polyphonic synth, an innovation that marked a crucial step forward in synthesizer design and functionality. Sequential went on to become one of the most successful music synthesizer manufacturers of the time.

MIDI

In 1981 Smith set out to create a standard protocol for communication between electronic musical instruments from different manufacturers worldwide. He presented a paper outlining the idea of a Universal Synthesizer Interface (USI) to the

Audio Engineering Society The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is a professional body for engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products ...

(AES) in 1981 after meetings with

Tom Oberheim Thomas Elroy Oberheim (born July 7, 1936, Manhattan, Kansas), known as Tom Oberheim, is an American audio engineer and electronics engineer best known for designing effects processors, analog synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines. He h ...

and

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

founder

. After some enhancements and revisions, the new standard was introduced as "

Musical Instrument Digital Interface MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and rel ...

" (MIDI) at the Winter

NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

in 1983, when a Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 was successfully connected to a

Roland Jupiter-6 The Roland Jupiter-6 (JP-6) is a discontinued synthesizer, manufactured and introduced by the Roland Corporation in January 1983. Background Although introduced as a less expensive ($2,500-$3,000 market price) alternative to the Roland Jupiter- ...

. In 1987 he was named a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the AES for his continuing work in the area of music synthesis. In 2005, Smith was inducted into the Mix Foundation TECnology (Technical Excellence and Creativity) Hall of Fame for the MIDI specification. In 2013, he and the Japanese businessman

, the president of

Roland Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It has fac ...

, received a

for their contributions to the development of MIDI. In 2022, the ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'' wrote that MIDI remained as important to music as

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply ( interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

was to computing, and represented "a crucial value system of cooperation and mutual benefit, one all but thrown out by today’s major tech companies in favour of captive markets". As of 2022, Smith's original MIDI design was still in use.

Yamaha, Korg and Seer

After Sequential, Smith was President of DSD, Inc, a Research and Development Division of

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization esta ...

, where he worked on

physical modeling synthesis Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally cons ...

and software

concepts. In May 1989 he started the

Korg , founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, th ...

R&D group in California, which went on to produce the innovative and commercially successful Wavestation synthesizer and other technology. Smith went on to serve as president at

Seer Systems __NOTOC__ Seer Systems developed the world's first commercial software synthesizer in the early 1990s. Working in conjunction with Intel, then Creative Labs, and finally as an independent software developer and retailer, Seer helped lay the ground ...

and developed the world's first software based synthesizer running on a PC. This synth, commissioned by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

, was demonstrated by Andy Grove in a Comdex keynote speech in 1994. The second generation of this software synthesizer sold over 10 million copies, as a result of being licensed to

Creative Labs Creative Technology Ltd. is a Singaporean multinational technology company headquartered with overseas offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin, and Silicon Valley (where in the US it is known as Creative Labs). The principal activities of the comp ...

in 1996; it was responsible for 32 of the 64 voices in Creative Labs' AWE 64 line of soundcards. The third generation of Smith's software synthesizer, renamed Reality, was released in 1997. Smith was both the lead engineer on Reality, and wrote all the low-level optimized floating point synthesis code. Reality was the recipient of a 1998 Editors' Choice Award, and earned '' Electronic Musician Magazines highest possible rating.

Dave Smith Instruments and return to Sequential

In 2002, Smith launched Dave Smith Instruments, a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments. In 2015, Smith regained the rights to the Sequential name from

, and released the Prophet-6 under that name. Dave Smith Instruments rebranded as Sequential in 2018.

Personal life

Smith was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, to Peter B. Smith and Lucretia Papagni Smith. His father was also a San Francisco native. His mother's family came from Italian grape growers and winemakers who had immigrated to

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, mak ...

. He had five siblings. Smith's father died in 1972, and his mother died in 2021. After college studies in Berkeley, Smith lived and worked in San Jose in the 1970s. He was physically active, competing in the

Ironman World Championship The Ironman World Championship has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978, with an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culmination of a series of Ironman triathlon qualification ...

in Hawaii, and hiking tall mountains with his friend

Roger Linn Roger Curtis Linn is an American designer of electronic musical instruments and equipment. He is the designer of the LM-1, the first drum machine to use samples, and the MPC sampler, which had a major influence on the development of hip ho ...

—another synth pioneer. Smith married Denise White, and in 1988 they moved to

St. Helena, California St. Helena ( ; Wappo: ''Anakotanoma'') is a city in Napa County, in the Wine Country of California. Located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the population was 5,814 at the 2010 census. St. Helena is a popular tourist ...

. They had two children, Haley and Campbell. Smith died of a heart attack on May 31, 2022, at the age of 72, in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, where he was attending the Movement electronic festival.

Awards

* 2015: SEAMUS Award * January 2013: Technical Grammy (along with

) for the creation of

. * September 2012: Keyboard Magazine Hall of Fame * September 2005: Induction into the TECnology (Technical Excellence and Creativity) Hall of Fame at the AES show by Mix Foundation. * October 1987: Received Audio Engineering Society (AES) Fellowship Award, for having made a valuable contribution to the advancement in or dissemination of knowledge of audio engineering or in the promotion of its application in practice.AES Awards: Past Awards Recipients
/ref>

References

Interviews

"Oral History: Dave Smith explains pieces of his life story and career"
NAMM Oral History Library, Jan 2005
"Dave Smith In His Own Words"
Francis Preve, Keyboard Magazine, Jul 2012

Gearwire.com, 2006 * ttp://www.macmusic.org/articles/view.php/lang/en/id/76/Dave-Smith-The-father-of-MIDI. Dave Smith: The father of MIDI''Mac Music'', Oct 2003
Interview With Dave Smith
''KVR''
Episode 20 : Music Tech Pioneers III : Sequential Circuits : Rise, Fall, Return!
DAWbench Radioshow, May 2022

External links

Sequential
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Dave 1950 births 2022 deaths Computer hardware engineers American inventors American audio engineers Analog electronics engineers People from St. Helena, California Engineers from California UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni Inventors of musical instruments