Dave Smith — the American engineer and musician known best as the founder of synthesizer company Sequential — has died. Smith's passing was announced by Sequential yesterday (June 1), though a cause of death was not revealed. He was 72.
"We're heartbroken, but take some small solace in knowing he was on the road doing what he loved best in the company of family, friends, and artists," Sequential wrote, inviting users to share memories of Smith via their official website.
Born in San Francisco, Smith obtained degrees in both Computer Science and Electronic Engineering from UC Berkeley before founding Sequential, playing guitar and bass in bands during his school years. His interest in electronic music and synthesizers was spurred by Wendy Carlos' 1968 album Switched-On Bach, which featured the composer performing pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach on a Moog synthesizer.
"It was just so lifelike the way she played," Smith would share of Carlos' album in a 2014 Red Bull Music Academy lecture. "It sounded like an acoustic instrument. We all know what's electronic and what's not. It just had this life into it that was just amazing to hear and the way she played it."
Smith founded Sequential (then Sequential Circuits) in San Francisco in 1974, and his work with emerging microprocessor technology led to the creation of the Prophet-5, the first microprocessor-based musical instrument and the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer. The new technology allowed users to store sounds in the synth's onboard memory and recall them instantly, as opposed to reprogramming them manually.
The Prophet-5 synthesizer can be heard on records including Michael Jackson's Thriller and Madonna's Like a Virgin. The instrument is prominently featured on one of Radiohead's best songs, "Everything In Its Right Place," and has also been played by the likes of Peter Gabriel, John Carpenter, Vangelis, Phil Collins, Dr. Dre, Rick Wakeman, Richard Wright and many more.
Smith is also recognized by synth heads as the "father of MIDI" for his role in establishing the Musical Instrument Digital Interface, the communications protocol that allows for the connection and control of a universe of electronic musical instruments, computers, and related audio devices.
In 1981, Smith met with 1981 Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi and Tom Oberheim to discuss this standard of communication, which he would then devise alongside Sequential Circuits engineer Chet Wood before introducing it at the Audio Engineering Society show in October 1981. To mark the 30th anniversary of MIDI's creation, Smith and Kakehashi were awarded a Technical Grammy for their invention in 2013.
Smith would go on to serve as president of DSD Inc. (Dave Smith Designs), a research and development arm of Yamaha where he worked on modelling synthesis and software synthesizer concepts. He would then found the Korg R&D group in California, which would produce the Wavestation synthesizer and other technology. Later, he would serve as president of Seer Systems, where he developed the world's first software-based synthesizer to run on a PC.
He would return to hardware in 2002, founding Dave Smith Instruments, producing synthesizers including the Prophet X, Prophet Rev2, Prophet-6, OB-6 (with Tom Oberheim), Pro 2, and Prophet 12, and the Tempest drum machine (with Roger Linn).
Smith would regain control of the Sequential Circuits brand in 2015, with DSI changing its name to sequential in 2018. The company was acquired by British audio company Focusrite in 2021.
"We're heartbroken, but take some small solace in knowing he was on the road doing what he loved best in the company of family, friends, and artists," Sequential wrote, inviting users to share memories of Smith via their official website.
Born in San Francisco, Smith obtained degrees in both Computer Science and Electronic Engineering from UC Berkeley before founding Sequential, playing guitar and bass in bands during his school years. His interest in electronic music and synthesizers was spurred by Wendy Carlos' 1968 album Switched-On Bach, which featured the composer performing pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach on a Moog synthesizer.
"It was just so lifelike the way she played," Smith would share of Carlos' album in a 2014 Red Bull Music Academy lecture. "It sounded like an acoustic instrument. We all know what's electronic and what's not. It just had this life into it that was just amazing to hear and the way she played it."
Smith founded Sequential (then Sequential Circuits) in San Francisco in 1974, and his work with emerging microprocessor technology led to the creation of the Prophet-5, the first microprocessor-based musical instrument and the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer. The new technology allowed users to store sounds in the synth's onboard memory and recall them instantly, as opposed to reprogramming them manually.
The Prophet-5 synthesizer can be heard on records including Michael Jackson's Thriller and Madonna's Like a Virgin. The instrument is prominently featured on one of Radiohead's best songs, "Everything In Its Right Place," and has also been played by the likes of Peter Gabriel, John Carpenter, Vangelis, Phil Collins, Dr. Dre, Rick Wakeman, Richard Wright and many more.
Smith is also recognized by synth heads as the "father of MIDI" for his role in establishing the Musical Instrument Digital Interface, the communications protocol that allows for the connection and control of a universe of electronic musical instruments, computers, and related audio devices.
In 1981, Smith met with 1981 Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi and Tom Oberheim to discuss this standard of communication, which he would then devise alongside Sequential Circuits engineer Chet Wood before introducing it at the Audio Engineering Society show in October 1981. To mark the 30th anniversary of MIDI's creation, Smith and Kakehashi were awarded a Technical Grammy for their invention in 2013.
Smith would go on to serve as president of DSD Inc. (Dave Smith Designs), a research and development arm of Yamaha where he worked on modelling synthesis and software synthesizer concepts. He would then found the Korg R&D group in California, which would produce the Wavestation synthesizer and other technology. Later, he would serve as president of Seer Systems, where he developed the world's first software-based synthesizer to run on a PC.
He would return to hardware in 2002, founding Dave Smith Instruments, producing synthesizers including the Prophet X, Prophet Rev2, Prophet-6, OB-6 (with Tom Oberheim), Pro 2, and Prophet 12, and the Tempest drum machine (with Roger Linn).
Smith would regain control of the Sequential Circuits brand in 2015, with DSI changing its name to sequential in 2018. The company was acquired by British audio company Focusrite in 2021.
