30 years of MIDI (1 Viewer)

[pete]

"You could play one keyboard with your right hand and another keyboard with your left hand," says Dave Smith, a synthesiser manufacturer from California who was working on the issue back then.

"But [musicians] couldn't play more than one at the same time because there was no way of electrically interconnecting them," he remembers.

What Smith did next would transform the way recording studios worked, and create a revolution in music and recording production.

He persuaded manufacturers to adopt a common format which allowed their synthesisers to be controlled externally - by another keyboard potentially made by a rival manufacturer, or even by a computer.

It was called Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) and would soon become the industry standard for connecting different makes of synthesisers, drum machines, samplers and computers.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20425376

 

[shower another shower]

this was the biz

 

[pissypants]

Reminds me of this immediately.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

(I always remembered what a shit sarcastic laugh he did at @16 seconds and imagined how many takes it took to get right!)

 

[ann post]

this was the biz

there was this deadly band used to play them. there were twelve of them in row, all female, all smoking benson. they used to play in dunnes a lot. clunky electro/industrial stuff.