Sequential founder Dave Smith has died

Photo Source: Sequential

The ‘Father Of MIDI’ was 72 years old.

Sequential founder and creator of the acclaimed Prophet 5 (the first commercial polyphonic and microprocessor-controlled synthesizer) has died. The sad news was confirmed by Sequential, the company he founded in 1974.

Dave Smith (1950-2022) was one of the most influential designers in electronic music, Having founded Sequential in 1974, the company went on to release iconic instruments, such as the Prophet 5, the Pro-One, and the Drumtraks, the first MIDI-compatible sample-based drum machine.

In 1981, Smith presented a paper at the Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention in New York introducing a USI (Universal Synthesizer Interface), which would later go on to become what today is known as MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). This resulted in the creation of the first MIDI synth ever in December 1982, the Prophet-600. In 2013, Dave Smith and Roland’s Ikutaro Kakehashi received a Technical Grammy for their contributions to the development of MIDI.

When Sequential went under, Smith collaborated with both Yamaha and Korg, where he also assisted in the creation of the Wavestation. In 1997, he developed the first professional software synth known as Reality.

In 2002, Dave Smith launched Dave Smith Instruments along with the Evolver, a hybrid analog/digital synthesizer, with a string of classics to follow, including the Prophet X, the Prophet-6, and the OB-6.

Dave Smith and his boundless imagination will be dearly missed. Read some of the industry tributes below.