He was the inventor, among many synths, of the Prophet.
He was also the creator of the MIDI standard in 1981.

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2022/06/01/sequential-founder-father-of-midi-dave-smith-has-died/

 

Thanks Dave for all the musical devices and ideas you invented.

Dave M. Smith is an American engineer and musician, and founder of the synthesizer company Sequential. Smith, alongside sound designer John Bowen, was responsible for the first commercial polyphonic and microprocessor-controlled synthesizer, Prophet-5, and later for one of the first multitimbral synthesizers.He is also known as the "father of MIDI", as he was involved in the development of MIDI, a standard interface protocol for electronic instruments and recording / pro audio equipment.

Dave Smith Synth Room Tour

 

The Inventors of Synth (Roger Linn, Dave Smith & Tom Oberheim) - Sweetwater Gearfest 2015

Dave Smith Instruments Studio Tour

Playing the Prophet REV2 with Dave Smith

 

Yeah. It's sad and depressing that people who gave so much have to go. These passings of inventors like Dave Smith affects me as much as if they were my rock heroes, like David Bowie, Eddie Van Halen, etc.

 

Incredibly sad news

I remember talking to Dave to clarify MIDI NRPN implementation in 1984... how time flies.

Bugger

 

Thank you Dave for your vision and commitment to music and musicians over your lifetime, the face of art has been changed for our betterment forever for your dedication and love.

 

They did such a good job with MIDI that it's only recently been updated, forty years later.

 

Very recently...

 

sad to hear this. rest in peace mr. smith.

 

I was 1 year old there wow

 

10 years later I went to this earth.

 

He has become a God.

 

Thanks for the Pro-One, Dave!
Couldn't afford a Prophet 5 so I waited and got a Pro-One when they first came out.
It was still expensive but sounded fat and had a sequencer/arpeggiator that synced to the cheap little battery operated analog drum machine I had back then.
Instant rhythm section!
Add my Juno 60 live on top and I was a one man 80's band
Those were the days

 

For a second there I thought both Iron Maiden guitarists had died...

 

It is hard to overestimate the influence Dave Smith on the development of musical instruments.

Where would we be today if he hadn't co-developed MIDI so early? Hardly imaginable.

He is truly one of the giants on whose shoulders the entire music (instrument) industry stands.
Just think a second about how it would be if Dave had not existed.

Personally I hope for his sake that he lived a happy life and that he died peacefully.
Requiescat in pace.

 

Last edited: Jun 3, 2022

This is not true, all Iron Maiden musicians are still alive.

 

RIP Dave Smith.

Thank you for all you've done, thank you for the synths, thank you for MIDI.

Today will be spent in quiet contemplation playing the Wavestation.

 

Such a huge fan of Sequential and Dave's work. My first was a Six Trax with a broken key that started an obsession.
Drum Trax, Pro-One, Prophet 5, Prophet VS, and a VS rack. An innovator, A real influencer who has left an indelible impression on music technology.

 

Yeah obviously.

I'm just sayin, when I read "RIP Dave Smith" my still sleepy brain went "DAVE Murray and Adrian SMITH from Iron Maiden"

 

I was unaware that the wavestation was from Dave Smith.
Another gem.