Back in those days, polyphonic synthesizers cost thousands of dollars (and “polyphonic” meant 8 voices, if you were lucky and of course, wealthy).
“It” was the Musical Instrument Digital Interface, known as MIDI. Sequential Circuits' Prophet-600 talking to a Roland keyboard at the 1983 NAMM show (photo courtesy the MIDI Manufacturers Association and used with permission) “It worked!” he said, clearly elated-but I think I detected some surprise in there as well. I saw Dave Smith walking around the show and asked him about it. The MIDI specification first saw the light of day at the 1981 AES, when Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits presented a paper on the “Universal Synthesizer Interface.” It was co-developed with other companies (an effort driven principally by Roland’s Ikutaro Kakehashi, a true visionary of this industry), and made its prime time debut at the 1983 Los Angeles NAMM show, where a Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 talked to a Roland keyboard over a small, 5-pin cable. As we close out MIDI’s 30th anniversary, it’s instructive to reflect on why it has endured and remains relevant
0 kommentar(er)
