Dave Smith
American engineer, founder of Sequential, designer of the Prophet-5, and driving force behind the MIDI specification.
Dave Smith (1950–2022) founded Sequential Circuits in San Jose in 1974, designing the Prophet-5 — the first fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer — in 1978. He was the driving force behind the MIDI specification in 1981, coining the acronym itself, and later commissioned Dave Rossum to design the 2140 filter for Sequential’s instruments. After Sequential Circuits closed in 1987, Smith continued building synthesizers as Dave Smith Instruments from 2002, eventually reclaiming and rebranding back to the Sequential name in 2018.
Works in the Library
Roger Linn, Dave Smith, Tom Oberheim HARDWARE
Digital multi-effects unit combining a drum machine and amp modeler, designed by Roger Linn with Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim.
TIME COMPUTATION INSTRUMENTS
Korg, Dave Smith INSTRUMENT
Korg's 1990 digital synth built around Wave Sequencing — stepping and crossfading through a sequence of waveforms to create continuously evolving timbres.
TIME COMPUTATION INSTRUMENTS
Related Groups in the Library
Dave Smith ORGANIZATION
Dave Smith's synthesizer company, founded 1974 as Sequential Circuits, maker of the Prophet-5 and driving force behind MIDI.
INSTRUMENTS
