

Grammy for MIDI Creators Dave Smith, Ikutaro Kakehashi - joey_muller
http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/12/grammy-for-midi-creators-dave-smith-ikutaro-kakehashi-first-connection-mystery-solved/

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hcarvalhoalves
MIDI single-handledly enabled more people than ever to produce music. Back in
1990, my dad setup a studio with a 486 and produced CDs for a lot of
independent artists around our city that would never had it recorded
otherwise.

Also, it's amazing how it turned into a standard and is still well supported
by all applications. My dad can still open his early works and remaster using
improved, true-to-life instruments that make it sound like live recordings.

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gdubs
When I first got into MIDI programming, I really enjoyed discovering the
manufacturer IDs in the System Exclusive message byte block:

[http://www.blitter.com/~russtopia/MIDI/~jglatt/tech/midispec...](http://www.blitter.com/~russtopia/MIDI/~jglatt/tech/midispec/id.htm)

It's like a 1970's and 80's time-capsule.

~~~
kolektiv
Haha, seconded. That list got expanded as well to allow for multiple byte
(segment) IDs, and the expanded list still feels like a blast from the past!
The only thing about MIDI is that the official standard doc is still only
officially available as dead tree. While there's plenty of good (and sometimes
better) treatments of it online, I wish they'd just catch up a little - I
don't really want to send a cheque from the UK to Cali' for it!

Of course, that's rather a digression - it's a surprisingly decent standard,
and what it's enabled is startling. Well deserved, and congratulations to
them!

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snogglethorpe
Not only is Dave Smith a legend historically†, but he's back in the game these
days with his new‡ company "Dave Smith Instruments" (one of the few (only?)
companies currently making real, affordable, analog polysynths):

<http://davesmithinstruments.com/>

† Not just for midi. His Prophet 5 was a seminal, ground-breaking synth (and
super popular; it can be heard all over music of the 1980s).

‡ Well, new-ish, starting with the wonderful "Evolver" in 2002.

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joey_muller
I got my evolver in 2005 and continue to love it's design and sound quality.
His latest device, a joint effort with with Roger Linn called Tempest, is a
refined drum machine with the signature fat sound and brilliant versatility of
DSI.

