MIDI Turns 30, Gets A Grammy

The major tech blogs have been covering this one pretty heavily, but we decided it was absolutely worth a nod from our community as well. The Musical Instrument Digital Interface specification that makes communication between instruments and computers possible is turning 30 years old this month, having debuted at the 1983 Winter NAMM show.

The creators of MIDI are even getting their own major award credit in the industry this year. Dave Smith (then at Sequential Circuits, but now running Dave Smith Instruments) and Ikutaro Kakehashi (founder and engineer at Roland) will each be hosting a Technical Grammy for their contribution towards revolutionizing the musical instrument industry. Congratulations due for both of them!

Finally, Roland has put together this video for MIDI’s birthday summarizing the history and the accomplishments – keep your eyes peeled and you’ll notice that we even made it into the list of MIDI manufacturers!

[via Engadget]
dave smith instrumentsgrammymidimusical instrument digital interfaceroland
Comments (8)
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  • Orvelin Valle

    Hi guys, thanks for using our MIDI video. Are you guys taking any guest writers?

  • chill2kill

    That combination mark (logo) looks… suspect.

    • Orvelin Valle

      LOL… If you turn it 30 degrees clockwise it looks like it swallowed a viagra pill.

  • Anonymous

    I like to think of this as the 15th consecutive year that the MIDI Manufacturer’s Group have been unable to agree on the MIDI 2.0 specification.