Dave Smith has left our planet. I’ve never met him and never owned a Sequential …
Dave Smith has left our planet. I’ve never met him and never owned a Sequential synth or drum machine. But nevertheless his passionate work has had a tremendous impact on my life.
In 1982, when no music machines of different manufacturers could talk to each other, Sequential Circuits and Roland introduced the MIDI standard. A simple 5-Pin DIN socket that would allow the Prophet 600 and the Roland Juno-106 to be connected and played from the other synth. We’re all used to this now, but40 years ago, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface was truly a revolution.
The Atari ST computer also featured MIDI sockets and empowered young musicians like myself to direct a machine orchestra only by the magic of MIDI.
This progress was not achieved by one manufacturer to build an especially powerful synth, but a standardized process of connecting machines of different manufacturers. I guess, I maybe would not have a career, if it wasn’t for the vision of Dave Smith to overcome borders between tribes and just talk to each other. Isn’t that the perfect message for today’s tumultuous world as well?
So next time you send a MIDI clock to your groove boxes, please also send a thought to Dave Smith and I think he’ll be smiling.
Thank you Dave and rest in peace!