An announcement on the Sequential website has reported the sad news that Dave Smith has died. The man behind the groundbreaking Prophet 5 synth, itself a huge achievement, was also referred to as the ‘Father of MIDI’, having had an instrumental role in the cross-industry collaboration which led to the MIDI standard.
The short message on the Sequential site read:
“It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Dave Smith has died.
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.”
An engineer with training in both computer science and electronic engineering, Smith’s first product was an analog sequencer, but it was with the Prophet 5 polysynth that his company, Sequential Circuits, made its mark. Released in 1977, the Prophet 5 was the first synth to feature an embedded microprocessor and to offer programmability in a polysynth, allowing instant recall of patches and making the polysynth a practical performance tool. It was recognisably a modern synthesiser at a time when the competing polysynths were anything but.
The ‘Father Of MIDI’
MIDI remains a rare example of true collaboration between competing manufacturers and its legacy continues to benefit us all. The result of work between Smith, Tom Oberheim and Roland, this standard from 1983 has driven the music of the last 40 years!
After Sequential Smith worked with Yamaha, Korg and Seer systems and in 2002 returned to manufacturing with Dave Smith Instruments. In 2018 DSI rebranded as Sequential, Smith having regained the right to that name from Yamaha in 2015.
Here are three videos from 2017 of the man himself talking with Synth Expert’s Stephen Fortner about the Prophet Rev 2.
Photos courtesy of Sequential