Sequential’s Dave Smith Passes Away

​Dave Smith, founder of Sequential, has passed away. He was 72. The company shared a note on its website on June 1 which read: “We’re heartbroken, but take some small solace in knowing he was on the road doing what he loved best in the company of family, friends and artists.”

Born in 1950, Smith founded Sequential Circuits in 1974. Three years later, he designed the Prophet-5, the first fully programmable polyphonic synth and the first musical instrument with an embedded microprocessor.

Smith pioneered the MIDI specification in 1981 and, it was he who coined the “MIDI” acronym which also lead to his moniker “father of MIDI.” In 1987, he was named a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) for his work in music synthesis.

Smith started Dave Smith Instruments in 2002 and, in 2018, Dave Smith Instruments changed its named back to Sequential, bringing Smith’s legacy full-circle.

Sequential has started an email address for those wanting share their thoughts and memories of Smith. Those can be shared at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

sequential.com