page_title: Sequential (company)
section_title: 1981—1982: MIDI
hierarchical_section_title: Sequential (company) / History / 1981—1982: MIDI
caption_attribution_description: Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 N7Studio
context_page_description: Sequential is an American synthesizer company founded in 1974 as Sequential Circuits by Dave Smith. In 1978, Sequential released the Prophet-5, the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer, used by artists including Michael Jackson, Madonna, and John Carpenter. Sequential was also pivotal to the development of MIDI in 1982, which synchronizes electronic instruments by different manufacturers.
  In 1987, Sequential went out of business and was purchased by Yamaha. Smith continued to develop instruments through a new company, Dave Smith Instruments. In 2015, Yamaha returned the Sequential Circuits trademark to Dave Smith Instruments, which rebranded as Sequential in 2018.
context_section_description: In 1981, Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi contacted Smith about creating a standardized means of synchronizing electronic instruments manufactured by different companies. Smith and Sequential engineer Chet Wood designed an interface using Roland's Digital Control Bus (DCB) as a basis. This standard was discussed and modified by representatives of Roland, Yamaha, Korg, and Kawai. The protocol was named Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) and unveiled by Kakehashi and Smith, who received Technical Grammy Awards in 2013 for their work. In 1982, Sequential released the Prophet 600, one of the first MIDI-equipped synthesizers.
caption: Prophet 600 (1982), the first Sequential Circuits synthesizer with MIDI functionality
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