MIDI Timeline

To view the interactive “Evolution of MIDI” timeline, click the link – MIDI Timeline

Nov 1981

Dave Smith and Chet Wood who were ‘Sequential Circuit’ engineers and synthesizers designers created a universal synthesiser interface, which allowed direct communication between equipment from different manufacturers. This was proposed at the ‘Audio Engineering Society Show’ in November 1981.

Oct 1982

In October 1982 in the edition of ‘Keyboard Magazine’ Robert Moog announced the development of Midi to the public.

Jan 1983

In January 1983 at the ‘Winter NAMM Show’ Smith demonstrated a Midi connection. He demonstrated this by using Midi to connect his Prophet 600 analog synthesiser to a Roland JP6. In Auguest 1983 the ‘Midi Specification’ was published.

1 Jan 1983 – 1 Jan 2014

The following years after 1983 Midi Specification and Midi Features were adapted to multiple computer platforms. these included Apple 2 Plus, lle and Macintosh, Atari ST, PC DOS etc.

Jan 1984

The Ensoniq Mirage was the first low cost Midi Sampler and was introduced in 1984. Samplers were not seen as a viable Midi instrument as synthesisers were, due to the expense of memory and processing power.

22 May 1990

The Atari ST was the most popular platform due to the Midi ports being built directly into the computer. In the first decade of Midi most music software was published for Apple or Atari, but when Windows 3.0 was released in 1990 PC’s were providing equal processing power and had acquired a graphical interface. This lead to software titles being released on multiple platforms and licensed Midi files on floppy discs became available in stores throughout Europe and Japan.

2012

In 2012 Ikutaro Kakehash & Dave Smith were awarded a ‘Technical Grammy Award’ for their development of Midi in 1983.