Dave Smith (engineer)

Lore & Background

Smith purchased a Minimoog in 1972 and built his own analog sequencer, founding Sequential Circuits in 1974 and advertising his product for sale in Rolling Stone. By 1977 he was working at Sequential full-time, and later that year he designed the Prophet-5, the world's first microprocessor-based musical instrument and also the first programmable polyphonic synth. Sequential went on to become one of the most successful music synthesizer manufacturers of the time.

In 1981 Smith set out to create a standard protocol for communication between electronic musical instruments from different manufacturers worldwide. He and Chet Wood presented a paper outlining the idea of a Universal Synthesizer Interface (USI) to the Audio Engineering Society in 1981, after meetings with Tom Oberheim and Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi. After enhancements and revisions, the new standard was introduced as MIDI at the Winter NAMM Show in 1983, when a Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 was successfully connected to a Roland Jupiter-6.

After Sequential, Smith was President of DSD, Inc, a Yamaha R&D division, then started the Korg R&D group in California, producing the Wavestation synthesizer. He became president at Seer Systems and developed the world's first software-based synthesizer running on a PC, commissioned by Intel and demonstrated by Andy Grove in a Comdex keynote speech in 1994. The second generation sold over 10 million copies after being licensed to Creative Labs in 1996, providing 32 of the 64 voices in Creative Labs' AWE 64 soundcards. The third generation, Reality, was released in 1997 and received an Editors' Choice Award. In 2002, Smith launched Dave Smith Instruments, and in 2015 regained the rights to the Sequential name from Yamaha, releasing the Prophet-6 under that name. Dave Smith Instruments rebranded as Sequential in 2018.

Reader's Guide

Dave Smith's significance lies in his foundational contributions to electronic music hardware and interoperability. He created the Prophet-5, the first microprocessor-based musical instrument and the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer, which marked a crucial step forward in synthesizer design and functionality. His most enduring legacy is the development of MIDI, a standard interface protocol that enabled synchronization of electronic instruments from different manufacturers. As of 2022, Smith's original MIDI design was still in use, and the Guardian wrote that MIDI remained as important to music as USB was to computing, representing a crucial value system of cooperation and mutual benefit. Smith also pioneered software-based synthesis, developing the world's first software synthesizer running on a PC, which sold over 10 million copies when licensed to Creative Labs. His work earned him a Technical Grammy Award in 2013 alongside Ikutaro Kakehashi, induction into the TECnology Hall of Fame in 2005, and an AES Fellowship in 1987. Smith's companies—Sequential Circuits, Dave Smith Instruments, and later Sequential—produced influential instruments like the Prophet-5, Prophet-6, and Wavestation, cementing his role as a key figure in the evolution of electronic music technology.

Did You Know?

• Smith created the first polyphonic synthesizer with fully programmable memory, the Prophet-5.
• He led the development of MIDI, which was introduced at the Winter NAMM Show in 1983.
• Smith developed the world's first software-based synthesizer running on a PC, demonstrated by Andy Grove in a 1994 Comdex keynote.
• He competed in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii and hiked tall mountains with fellow synth pioneer Roger Linn.