It was followed by the larger Prophet-10, which was less successful as it was notorious for unreliability. : 385 The Prophet-5 became a market leader and industry standard, used by musicians such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Dr Dre, and by film composers such as John Carpenter. This facilitated a move from synthesizers creating unpredictable sounds to producing "a standard package of familiar sounds". Whereas previous synthesizers required users to adjust cables and knobs to change sounds, with no guarantee of exactly recreating a sound, the Prophet-5 used microprocessors to store sounds in patch memory. He demonstrated it at NAMM in January 1978 and shipped the first models later that year. When no instrument emerged, in early 1977, he quit his job to work full-time on a design for the Prophet-5, the first fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer. ![]() 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. ![]() The Prophet-5 (1978), the first Sequential synthesizerĪt the time, Smith had a full-time job working with microprocessors, then a new technology. The Model 800, launched in 1975, was controlled and programmed with a microprocessor. 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. The engineer Dave Smith founded Sequential Circuits in San Francisco in 1974. History Sequential founder Dave Smith in 2015 1974–1980: Founding, first products and Prophet-5 In 2021, Sequential was acquired by the British audio technology company Focusrite. In 2015, Yamaha returned the Sequential Circuits trademark to Dave Smith Instruments, which rebranded as Sequential in 2018. Smith continued to develop instruments through a new company, Dave Smith Instruments. In 1987, Sequential went out of business and was purchased by Yamaha. In the 1980s, Sequential was important in the development of MIDI, a technical standard for synchronizing electronic instruments. In 1978, Sequential released the Prophet-5, the first programmable polyphonic synthesizer, which was widely used in the music industry. Sequential Circuits Model 700 Programmer and Model.Sequential is an American synthesizer company founded in 1974 as Sequential Circuits by Dave Smith.Korg Maxi-Korg K-3, Contemporary Keyboard 1977.E-mu Emulator, Contemporary Keyboard 1981.ARP 1976 family of products, Contemporary Keyboard.DrumDrops Volume One, Contemporary Keyboard 1978.Roland System 100, Contemporary Keyboard 1977.Yamaha CS40m, CS20m, CS15 and CS5, Contemporary Ke. ![]() After the stylized 'SC' logo, the front panel of the 800 displayed the 'Sequential Circuits Co.' logo as seen in this photo from Synthnut's tech pages, and then the logo changed to the straight-up 'Sequential Circuits' logo like this one from matrixsynth's Flickr photo stream. You can follow more of the evolution of the SC logo throughout the Model 800's lifespan. This stylized 'SC' logo is more visible at the bottom of this very early Model 800 ad I found on. The Model 800 Digital Sequencer in the ad has what I believe is an even earlier version of the Sequential Circuits logo. I'm not sure when they stopped using 'Co', but photos that I've found online of the 700 Mark 2 (released in 1979) can be seen with various versions of a non-'Co.' logo, including this one on Matrixsynth with the SC logo on the right side of the front panel and this photo in a brochure PDF I found on the Emulator Archive Web site that has the logo dead centre. If you look closely, the Model 700 in the ad has a Sequential Circuits 'Co' logo rather than the more familiar ' Inc' logo. ![]() Historically, I find the images in the ad most valuable from the perspective of SCI's logo evolution. My archives are far from complete, but this must be one of Sequential Circuits earliest ads - at least in CK magazine. Sequential Circuits Model 700 Programmer and Model 800 Digital Sequencer from page 7 of Contemporary Keyboard June 1977 and page 5 of Synapse May/June 1977.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |