Dave (R) with the late Bob Moog (L)Once upon time all us synth guys used to try and figure out ways to hook synths to eack other and to everything else, it was a nightmare, with several proprietary systems but no standard. Then Dave Smith, then at Sequential Circuits got the whole industry to adopt the MIDI standard - the rest, as they say, is history.
Dave is to receive a well deserved Technical Grammy.
The Recording Academy announced today that Dave Smith and Roland Corporation’s Ikutaro Kakehashi will receive the 2013 Technical GRAMMY Award for the development of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface).
The MIDI protocol and interface design were co-developed by Dave and his original company, Sequential Circuits, and Japanese instrument manufacturer, Roland. The first MIDI-equipped synthesizer, the Prophet 600, was designed by Dave and started shipping thirty years ago this month. It was at the NAMM show in January of 1983 that MIDI communication between two instruments from different manufacturers—Sequential’s Prophet 600 and Roland’s Jupiter 6—was publicly demonstrated for the first time.
A special ceremony will be held on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, and a formal acknowledgment will be made during the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast, on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013.