Talk:Dave Smith (engineer)

First MIDI demo
This article claims that the first public MIDI demonstration was between a Prophet 5 and a Roland JP6. The Sequential Circuits article claims that the other keyboard was a Roland JX-3P. According to information on the web, both instruments were introduced in 1983, so it could have been either. Electricdruid 00:08, 2 March 2007 (UTC)


 * The article has since been edited to claim that the two keyboards were a Prophet-600 and a Jupiter 6. This is the problem when people don't include references; we have no way to know which of these three permutations is correct. Specifically The Mix Foundation says Prophet-600/Roland Jupiter 6, whereas both the MIDI Manufacturers Association and Dave Smith's own website say Prophet 600/Roland JX-3P. All three sources seem pretty legit. Ordinarily this would favour the latter option, but the Mix Foundation has a photo which they claim is of the demonstration itself, and that shows the back of a Jupiter 6. I believe that it would be best to say simply that "MIDI was first demonstrated at the NAMM festival in January 1983" until the internet sorts itself out. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 01:42, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

How about moving the list of Sequential Circuits-products to the SC page instead of this one?--Tbachl (talk) 16:31, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

I'm surprised this article hasn't been criticized by the moderators a bit more. It reads like an advertising brochure. The claims for the most part are certainly true, but references are required.Cyberplasm (talk) 06:26, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

This is a very interesting debate. I tried looking up a definitive answer in Kakehashi's autobiography "I Believe In Music" (he is the founder of Roland), and on p. 198, he writes, "At the 1983 NAMM Show, we connected Sequential Circuit's MIDI synthesizer Prophet 600 and either the Roland JP-6 or JX-3P for the first public experiment of digital transmission between MIDI instruments. (My own recollection is that the Roland synthesizer connected with the Prophet 600 was actually JX-3P, but that differs from the memory of others, and I can find no written record.)" Should this be the info included in the article? Synthfiend (talk) 16:21, 13 August 2010


 * since it's about a Roland keyboard, I think that belongs on the Roland Corporation page, or the MIDI page.

Proposed Split
This article really should be about the person. There should be a separate Dave Smith Instruments article about that business and its products (especially now that there are, have been, and will likely be plenty of products and corresponding awards, etc.) synthfiend (talk) 18:11, 2 May 2011 (UTC)

Also, no mention of Chet Wood as co-creator of the universal interface? MIDI

Family info
I added the names of Smith's wife and children, cited to a 2013 piece in the St Helena Star which was already in the article.

This online obituary memorializes Smith's mother, Lucretia Papagni Smith. The various family members are listed, including Lucretia's six children, eleven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren (as of June 2021.) The names of Smith, his wife and his children all appear.

His full name is listed as David Joseph Smith.

Smith's daughter Haley is shown in the obituary to be married to Andre Lazar. Andre Lazar wrote about Haley Rose Smith in his doctoral dissertation. He wrote that David and his wife Denise are from the "Smith and White clans".

Per WP:DOB, the California Birth Index cannot be used as a reference for people who are alive or who have recently died. Perhaps a year from now we can use the CBI to say that David Joseph Smith was born on April 2, 1950, in San Francisco. Other such info:
 * Denise M. White was born in Alameda County in 1961, mother's maiden name Beardsle.
 * Haley Rose Smith was born in Napa County in 1991, mother's maiden name White.
 * Campbell Langford Smith was born in Napa County in 1992, mother's maiden name White.

It's likely that an exhaustive obituary will appear in the media before a year passes, for instance from the Audio Engineering Society. Binksternet (talk) 22:36, 3 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Hi,
 * I am new to Wikipedia so apologies if I'm not engaging correctly with this content. My question is about the newly added personal life section. Per wikipedia source quality guidelines, the Roger Linn post and the obituary do not seem to qualify as they are self-published and therefore not fact-checked or subject to editorial standards. (WP:BLPSPS)
 * I have to wonder also as to the relevance of personal information/hobbies listed about family members who are not public figures themselves, and who are living. For example information about Campbell's hobbies or the fact that Dave & Denise met at work don't seem relevant (WP:NPF). Even listing full/maiden names, places of birth, and year of birth in this Talk page for people who are not the subject of the article seems an unnecessary privacy risk, especially for a family who very recently lost their head of household and therefore is highly likely to be targeted by identity theft scams. (WP:DOB)
 * To disclose a conflict of interest, I am Dave's daughter, and have been keeping an eye on this page as I expected it to be updated frequently in the wake of his death announcement. I previously edited the date of death but understand now that COI edits are discouraged and that my edit was technically unsourced.
 * I hope this was not an inappropriate message to leave, but I felt compelled to share my concerns. Thank you for your understanding as I learn the ins and outs of the wikipedia guidelines. Midiprincess (talk) 05:21, 6 June 2022 (UTC)
 * All fair points, IMO. I've updated the article accordingly - A l is o n  talk 07:47, 6 June 2022 (UTC)