Sequential (company)

1974–1980: Founding, first products and Prophet-5

The engineer Dave Smith founded Sequential Circuits in San Francisco in 1974.[1] The first Sequential Circuits product was an analog sequencer for use with Moog and ARP synthesizers, followed by a digital sequencer and the Model 700 Programmer, which allowed users to program Minimoog and ARP 2600 synthesizers.[2] The Model 800, launched in 1975, was controlled and programmed with a microprocessor.[3]

At the time, Smith had a full-time job working with microprocessors, then a new technology. He conceived the idea of combining them with synthesizer chips to create a programmable synthesizer, but did not pursue the idea, assuming Moog or ARP would design the instrument first.[2] When no instrument emerged, in early 1977, Smith quit his job to work full-time on a design for the Prophet-5, the first fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer. He demonstrated it at the NAMM International Music & Sound Expo in January 1978 and shipped the first models later that year.[2]

Whereas previous synthesizers required users to adjust cables and knobs to change sounds, with no guarantee of exactly recreating a sound,[4] the Prophet-5 used microprocessors to store sounds in patch memory.[5] This facilitated a move from synthesizers creating unpredictable sounds to producing "a standard package of familiar sounds". The Prophet-5 became a market leader and industry standard,[6] used by musicians such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Dr Dre, and by film composers such as John Carpenter.[6] It was followed by the larger Prophet-10, which featured two keybeds and was less successful as it was notorious for unreliability.[7] The smaller Pro-One, essentially a monophonic Prophet-5,[8] saw more success.[6]

1981–1982: MIDI

In 1981, Ikutaro Kakehashi, the founder of the Japanese synthesizer company Roland, contacted Smith about creating a standardized means of synchronizing electronic instruments manufactured by different companies.[9] Smith and the Sequential engineer Chet Wood designed an interface using Roland's Digital Control Bus (DCB) as a basis.[10] This standard was discussed and modified by representatives of Roland, Yamaha, Korg, and Kawai.[11][12] The protocol was named Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)[13] and unveiled by Kakehashi and Smith, who received Technical Grammy Awards in 2013 for their work.[14][15][16] In 1982, Sequential released the Prophet 600, one of the first MIDI-equipped synthesizers.[17] In 1984, they released the Drumtraks, one of the first drum machines with MIDI control.[18]

1987: Closure

In 1987 Sequential Circuits released their final product, the Prophet 3000 digital sampler.[20] Only several dozen units were produced before the company went out of business. Smith blamed the closure on the decision to move to computer audio in prior years: "We were too small and under-capitalized, and we were a few years too early in the market ... It drained our resources, so by the time we pulled back to professional instruments, it was too late."[2]

Sequential Circuits was purchased by the Japanese corporation Yamaha. They released no products under the Sequential name and shut it down in 1989,[2][9] following the failure of the TX16W digital sampler.[20] Smith and much of the development team moved to Korg, where they worked mainly on the Wavestation synthesizer.[2][20]

2002–2014: Dave Smith Instruments

In 2002, after several years of working on software synthesis, Smith opened a new company, Dave Smith Instruments, to build new hardware. Its first product was the Evolver synthesizer in 2002.[2] In 2008, Dave Smith Instruments launched the Prophet '08, conceived as an affordable eight-voice analog synthesizer.[2]

2015–present: Return to Sequential and Focusrite acquisition

In January 2015, Yamaha returned the Sequential Circuits brands to Smith in a goodwill gesture. This was at the encouragement of Kakehashi, who had worked with Smith to create MIDI. Kakehashi said: "I feel that it's important to get rid of unnecessary conflict among electronic musical instrument companies. That is exactly the spirit of MIDI. For this reason, I personally recommended that the President of Yamaha, Mr. Nakata, return the rights to the Sequential name to Dave Smith."[21]

In 2015, Sequential released the Prophet-6,[22] followed in 2018 by the Prophet-X, which featured sample playback and digitally controlled oscillators.[23] On August 31, 2018, the 40th anniversary of the Prophet-5, Dave Smith Instruments rebranded as Sequential.[24] In September 2020, Sequential announced an updated reissue of the original Prophet-5.[25] Sequential reported revenues of $18.3 million in 2020.[26] In April 2021, Sequential was acquired by the British audio technology company Focusrite.[27] Smith died on May 31, 2022.[28]