RIP Dave Smith, founder of Sequential Circuits

**zeprogmeister** · 06-01-2022

Music related, made a lot of important instruments like the Prophet 5 etc. and a new batch of synths. Seems pretty sudden, he's still been active in the company after their sale to Focusrite last year.

From Sequential's site:

REMEMBERING DAVE SMITH • 1950–2022
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Dave Smith has died.

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.

If you’d like to share your thoughts and memories of Dave, please reach out:

RememberingDave@Sequential.com

Dave-Smith-1024x616.jpg

**Jimmy Giant** · 06-02-2022

Oh dammit no. Dave was such a giant in this industry. Had no idea if he was even sick. He just collaborated on the new Oberheim synth. I've been a long time Sequential user, since 1980. This is pretty devastating news.
The main man behind development of MIDI.
I'm just gutted.
RIP Dave

**battema** · 06-02-2022

RIP to a man who created one hell of a legacy and some legit legendary instruments.

**aith01** · 06-02-2022

Awful news.

**dropforge** · 06-02-2022

RIP Dave Smith. The Prophet 5 is right up there with the Minimoog as a legendary synth that keyboardists embraced. It's used on literally of thousands of recordings. Film composers who started out or went electronic (like John Carpenter) loved it.

Creepshow's score by John Harrison was done with a single Prophet-5 and piano!

**GuitarGeek** · 06-02-2022

Originally Posted by dropforge

RIP Dave Smith. The Prophet 5 is right up there with the Minimoog as a legendary synth that keyboardists embraced. It's used on literally of thousands of recordings. Film composers who started out or went electronic (like John Carpenter) loved it.

I think anyone who was into synths in the 80's either owned one or at least coveted one. You could make up a who's who of synth players, just by listing everyone who used a Prophet-5, Prophet-10 or a Pro-One. I remember seeing a photo of the band Berlin in Keyboard magazine, where both of their keyboardists were each using a Prophet-5 and nothing else (actually, I think Matt Reid also had a DX-7 on tour), and of course Tony Banks playing the Prophet 10 in a numerous Genesis videos comes to mind, and so on. Chris Franke from Tangerine Dream had his Prophet 5 customized so he could run each voice through a separate fuzztone. And I seem to recall reading that Joe Zawinul's was "like no one else's". So yeah, Dave Smith's gear really did get around. Seemed like EVERYBODY loved it!

A few years ago, I was looking for something to watch at like 4:00am, and as I'm passing the religious channels, I see something that catches my eye: a keyboardist playing a Prophet 10! It turned out to be a Jimmy Swaggart revival/concert, from the early 80's, that was being rebroadcast. That just seemed like a strange place to see a Prophet 10 (especially given apparently, all the guy used it play string synth pads, something he probably could have done with something a lot less...conspicuous, shall we say?). BTW, as a side note to that, Swaggart himself is a pretty good pianist, I noticed, in a similar vein to his cousins.

**dropforge** · 06-03-2022

Originally Posted by GuitarGeek

I think anyone who was into synths in the 80's either owned one or at least coveted one. You could make up a who's who of synth players, just by listing everyone who used a Prophet-5, Prophet-10 or a Pro-One. I remember seeing a photo of the band Berlin in Keyboard magazine, where both of their keyboardists were each using a Prophet-5 and nothing else (actually, I think Matt Reid also had a DX-7 on tour), and of course Tony Banks playing the Prophet 10 in a numerous Genesis videos comes to mind, and so on. Chris Franke from Tangerine Dream had his Prophet 5 customized so he could run each voice through a separate fuzztone. And I seem to recall reading that Joe Zawinul's was "like no one else's". So yeah, Dave Smith's gear really did get around. Seemed like EVERYBODY loved it!

Sequential Circuits Prophet 5

Another all-time classic synthesizer. Featuring five voices and ten oscillators, it was the first polyphonic (multi-voice) synthesizer in which every parameter could be stored and recalled. Plus, it sounded great. If you were a pro back in 1979 and 1980, you simply had to have one, as this Sequential Circuits ad attests. Zawinul had two, a Rev. 2 and a Rev 3.2.

Zawinul first used the Prophet 5 on Mr. Gone, and in a 1978 downbeat interview he said the album was his best yet because of the Prophet. "It's a great ensemble instrument," Zawinul said. "The touch feels good, a lot of resistance. And the sounds are amazingly accurate. The trumpet sounds exactly like brass--on this album [Mr. Gone] it's like having a big, swinging orchestra." Zawinul was also able to play one of his Arp 2600s from the Prophet keyboard, either separately or simultaneously with the Prophet. "This Prophet keyboard is an incredible machine; it has what I've always needed to make the music come off. I have forty-four different programs, including a string sound that you will not know isn't a symphony orchestra. It hasn't changed the way I write music, it just means there's no limitation." [RS 282]

The Prophet quickly became Zawinul's main instrument--"the essential keyboard for me," he said near the end of 1978--and his entire setup was built around it. Zawinul said he had "a fantastic string sound on the Prophet-5, unequaled by any other synthesizer," which can be heard on "In a Silent Way" from the 8:30 album. Supposedly Zawinul's first Prophet 5, serial number 00002, was turned into a coffee table by a Sequential Circuits engineer.

https://www.zawinulonline.org/Keyboards.html

**Top Cat** · 06-03-2022

I was shocked to hear about Dave's passing, he always seemed to be healthy and active whenever I saw videos of him from the NAMM shows. Or his introduction of a new synthesizer.

I believe Dave is hugely responsible for the resurgence of analog synthesizers.
After all the main manufacturers abandoned analog in favor of digital synths, only a few companies kept the fires burning.
Of course we had Boutique modular systems being made, and Studio Electronics which were famous for their analog Minimoog clones.

As the years went by and the popularity of analog emulations via software became so popular with musicians, musicians cried out to Roland, Yamaha and Korg to give them reproductions of the classics. But mostly the requests fell on deaf ears at the major synth companies.
Dave always said he was about the future and had wanted to create new synthesizers, but he eventually gave us the Prophet 08 and it was a huge hit.
Eventually Korg saw the light and began producing analog synths.
But I feel Dave took the leap of faith and proved to the industry analog can be profitable. So I give him a lot of credit for showing the beancounters, they could make money and it's not a risk.

I remember when I had preordered my Solaris synth from John Bowen and we were some of the early supporters, as it was still a dream to John, and we watched over years of anticipation as it grew from the dream to reality.
During this wait, John was very open about his past and his collaborations with Dave Smith on the Prophet 5, the Prophet VS and his later involvement with the Korg Wavestation.

I felt privileged to had one to one conversations via the internet with John, and it was an eye opener into the creativity of men like Dave Smith, Bob Moog, Tom Oberheim, etc.

I only owned one DSI instrument, it was the PolyEvolver Keyboard, which I loved, and it was unique in it's creative resources, and a testament to Dave's creativity and vision.

Thank you Dave, for your huge contributions and gifts to the world of music and musicians.