Dave Smith is an American engineer and musician whose innovations in synthesis have made him a key figure in the history of electronic music. He founded the synthesizer company Sequential, which was responsible for the first–ever commercial polyphonic and microprocessor-controlled synthesizer, the funky-sounding Prophet-5. He also played a central role in developing MIDI technology — he’s known as the father of MIDI. Starting out in the mid¬'70s as a fan of rock & roll, Smith got tuned on to electronics by Wendy Carlos's _Switched-On Bach_, and became inspired to explore synthesis more deeply. His inventions can be heard across American popular music, from radical pop and rock acts like Bowie and Talking Heads to film-score composers and directors like John Carpenter and JJ Abrams.
