Help Us Celebrate Dave Smith’s 70th birthday!

It’s a big day for one of the most innovative and tenacious synth designers in the world.

Dave Smith, company founder and chief visionary at Sequential, has a lot to celebrate. His accomplishments in life are many, beginning with the groundbreaking Prophet-5, the first true polyphonic, microprocessor-controlled synthesizer, in 1978. Three years later, he joined forces with Roland’s founder, Ikutaro Kakehashi, to give birth to the MIDI standard. In the mid-1990s, he helped launch the first soft synth to run on a PC. Since then, he and his company have introduced many legendary instruments, including the Evolver series; Tempest; OB-6; Pros One, 2, and 3; and the Prophets VS, 6, ’08, 12, X, and more.

To top it all off, Dave is a helluva nice guy and a connoisseur of fine tequila. So raise a shot glass to Dave Smith in celebration of this major milestone. Here’s wishing you and Denise long and happy lives, Dave, and thanks for all the great gear! Happy birthday!

UPDATE: The day after his birthday, Dave posted this video to express his appreciation:

Look here for our January 2020 interview with Dave about the new Pro 3. To learn more about his life and accomplishments, we recommend the book The Prophet from Silicon Valley (2015) by David Abernathy.

Photo of Tom Oberheim and Dave Smith ©2014 by Geary Yelton.