The music world lost a legend when Dave Smith, the synthesizer engineer widely regarded as the “Father of MIDI” passed away on Wednesday (June 1) at age 72.
Smith famously designed the Prophet 5, the world’s first microprocessor-based musical instrument and also the first programmable polyphonic synth in 1977 and helped usher in the era of the “Musical Instrument Digital Interface” aka MIDI in the ’80s. The device would go on to greater use and become one of the signature devices for producers such as multi-platinum producer Just Blaze, who wrote a heartfelt tribute to Smith on Instagram Wednesday.
“I could go on about Dave Smith’s contributions to modern music for days, but I’m still processing,” Just began. “To say I’m literally surrounded by this man’s life work and legacy every day is an beyond an understatement. Many of you are and may not even realize it.
His super rare Studio 440 sampler / sequencer from 1986 is the grandfather to a few of your favorite beat machines, is still sought after by collectors to this day and is generally considered priceless, as no one who actually has one ever lets it go.”
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As Just shared his thoughts about Smith, others such as Questlove and DJ Jazzy Jeff echoed his sentiments.
“Fast forward to 2022 and classic Prophet 5’s (along with a TON of his other synths) are still being manufactured and sold,” Just wrote. “His collars with Pioneer DJ can be seen on stages, DJ booths and stages all over the world, has created modern classics with fellow synth god Tom Oberheim (their JUST announced OBX8 is the biggest story in synthesizers in probably the last 10 years) and he still had more in store. I said I wasn’t going to go on about it and I’m a bit gutted, so I’ll stop there. Thank you kindly for your contributions sir, we all owe you.”
Smith’s company, Sequential announced his passing with a touching tribute, writing, “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.”
R.i.p. sir.
See? That wasn’t hard. Now do this with everything in your house until you realize that you’re living in a white man’s world.
I HOPE SOMEONE SLICES YOUR MOTHER’S THROAT!
Way to convince us you are not a wild savage with low intelligence who acts uncivilized, you dumb fuck. Fuck off back to Wakanda, your imaginary flourishing black society invented by small hat Stan Lee (real name Stanley Martin Lieber). You are so childish, we are so fuckin fed up with your bullshit.
WHITE SCUMBAG
What a big surprise, Dave Smith isn’t black.
Blacks are using white men tech, but i guess it’s not cultural appropriation this way around. Fun fact: when the first explorers (aka evil wypipo) arrived in africa, the natives there hadn’t even invented the wheel there. Who was holding them down before whitey arrived?
Sigh, well, I guess the only place you’ll find solace is places like here, just spamming your obvious bull since you are just desperate for attention and approval with your sociopathic and baiting views while fearing for any type of consequence of the things you say (including simply being modded), thus you come here. It’s why our country keeps falling down. Far too many losers like you who do not want to actually grow up and stay within reality, so you just frequently say things like this at places like here. I also find it ironic that it’s mostly white people behaving this way despite how much you guys like to berate black people as much as you guys can. So much for looking any better. Beyond sad.
“Who was holding them down before whitey arrived?” Google “IQ by country”
Respect on that open letter for contributions and how that played a roll in his career. First time reading something like this.