Dave Smith (engineer)
David Joseph Smith (April 2, 1950 – May 31, 2022) was an American engineer and founder of the synthesizer company Sequential. Smith created the first polyphonic synthesizer with fully programmable memory, the Prophet-5, which had a major impact on the music industry.[2] He also led the development of MIDI, a standard interface protocol for synchronizing electronic instruments and audio equipment.
Dave Smith
May 31, 2022 (aged 72)
American
UC Berkeley, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering
Synthesizer designer
In 2005, Smith was inducted into the Mix Foundation TECnology (Technical Excellence and Creativity) Hall of Fame for the MIDI specification. In 2013, he and the Japanese businessman Ikutaro Kakehashi received a Technical Grammy Award for their contributions to the development of MIDI.
Personal life[edit]
Smith was born in San Francisco, California, to Peter B. Smith and Lucretia Papagni Smith. His father was also a San Francisco native. His mother's family came from Italian grape growers and winemakers who had immigrated to Fresno. He had five siblings. Smith's father died in 1972, and his mother died in 2021.[1]
After college studies in Berkeley, Smith lived and worked in San Jose in the 1970s.[6] He was physically active, competing in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, and hiking tall mountains with his friend Roger Linn—another synth pioneer.[15] Smith married Denise White, and in 1988 they moved to St. Helena, California. They had two children, Haley and Campbell.[16]
Smith died of a heart attack on May 31, 2022, at the age of 72, in Detroit, Michigan, where he was attending the Movement electronic festival.[15][10]