Dave Smith & Ikutaro Kakehashi to Receive 2013 Technical GRAMMY for MIDI

via Dave Smith Instruments

"December 12, 2012—The Recording Academy® announced today that Dave Smith and Roland Corporation's Ikutaro Kakehashi will receive the 2013 Technical GRAMMY® Award for the development of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). The MIDI protocol and interface design were co-developed by Dave and his original company, Sequential Circuits, and Japanese instrument manufacturer, Roland. The first MIDI-equipped synthesizer, the Prophet 600, was designed by Dave and started shipping thirty years ago this month. It was at the NAMM show in January of 1983 that MIDI communication between two instruments from different manufacturers—Sequential's Prophet 600 and Roland's Jupiter 6—was publicly demonstrated for the first time. Congratulations to Dave and Mr. Kakehashi!"

Pictured: "John Bowen (Sequential tour jacket), Roland's Jim Mothersbaugh, Dave, and others breathe a sigh of relief that MIDI actually works at the first public demonstration of the then-new technology at the NAMM show in January of 1983."

Yes, that's this John Bowen in the jacket. The Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 was the first synth to have MIDI.  Via Wikipedia: "Sequential was also instrumental in developing MIDI, and introduced the first MIDI synthesizer: the Prophet 600 in 1982. At the January, 1983 NAMM convention, this instrument successfully communicated with a Roland Jupiter-6 synthesizer in the first public demonstration of the MIDI protocol."

The Roland Jupiter-6 and JX-3P both came out in 1983.