MIDI之父：不为人知的硅谷传奇

    戴夫•史密斯早就应该是个亿万富豪了，至少也应该是个能早早退休的千万富翁。他应该每周打上三场高尔夫球，驾着游艇在湾区游弋，空闲时间里“玩玩”天使投资。要知道，在硅谷找个成功的技术企业家可比找家星巴克（Starbucks）容易得多，而史密斯早就应该是硅谷的传奇人物了。但他恰恰还不是。

    1983年，史密斯和罗兰公司（Roland）的创始人梯郁太郎合作开发了“乐器数字接口”（Musical Instrument Digital Interface），也就是音乐界广为人知的MIDI。MIDI可让电子乐器和合成器交流，这意味着，用户可在一台合成器或电脑上控制多台电子乐器。正是这种连接能力构成了绝大多数数字音乐的基础。作曲家和音乐家使用这项技术创作屡获大奖和乐曲和电影配乐时，MIDI的丰富功能起着至关重要的作用。你想在苹果（Apple）电脑的iMovie上制作家庭录像吗？自1995年起，MIDI就已经内置在MacOS中了。你用智能手机吗？（这问题有点多余。）智能手机就采用了MIDI技术，第一代彩铃就是以MIDI为技术支撑的。像《吉他英雄》（Guitar Hero）这类视频游戏也用到了MIDI技术，而拉斯维加斯的百乐宫喷泉（Bellagio Fountain）和《金银岛海盗》表演（Treasure Island Pirate）也不例外。

    不过颇具讽刺意味的是，正是因为MIDI处处大获成功，才导致史密斯没能发家致富：因为他免费提供了这项技术。这在今天可能很难想象，但30年前，当史密斯和众多日本公司合作——包括罗兰公司（Roland）和雅马哈公司（Yamaha），将MIDI技术推向世界时，他没要求授权费，而是慷慨地把自己创意奉献给了全世界，任人取用。史密斯说：“我们想确保自己能100%参与合作项目，所以决定，不管哪家公司想用这项技术，我们都不收费。”MIDI制造商协会会长汤姆•怀特表示，那时候几乎不可能确定这项技术的货币价值，但它对音乐产业的价值不容低估。他相信，MIDI是音乐发展史上最重要的技术。他说：“（MIDI）本身从来没挣到过一分钱。但这项技术植入产品后，就使产品具有了更大的价值。”

    20世纪70年代末期和80年代早期，电子合成器和电子琴开始蓬勃发展。当时，史密斯意识到一个大问题：不同厂商的技术无法沟通，这就意味着如果音乐人一个使用罗兰牌而另一人使用雅马哈牌，他们就难以合作。当时史密斯正经营着自己的公司“时序电路”（Sequential Circuits），并在1978年就已生产出一款名为“先知5号”（Prophet 5）的合成器（这款产品所用的技术当时也具有开创性：它是首批带有微处理器的商用音乐设备之一，可让音乐人在弹奏多个曲子的同时保存音效。）

    1981年，在纽约举办的“音响工程协会大会”（Audio Engineering Society Convention）上，史密斯呼吁业内采用通用数字接口。随后，他开发了一款他心目中的新产品的初级版，名为“通用合成器接口”，简称USI。1982年，在阿纳海姆举办的“全美音乐商协会”（National Association of Music Merchants）展示会上，他为所有有意生产采用这项技术的产品的厂商举办了一个会议。史密斯称：“我当时只是告诉大家，‘大家得并肩合作，设计出东西来’，它不一定就是USI，这只是个起点，但我们得有所作为。” 只有为数不多的厂商参加了这次会议，其中就有梯郁太郎。一年以后，在1983年1月举办的“全美音乐商协会”展会上，史密斯在自己公司的展台上低调地展出了两人的合作成果：他将“时序电路”公司的“先知600”置入了罗兰公司的“朱庇特6”。MIDI就此诞生。

    Dave Smith should be a billionaire or, at least, a mega-millionaire well into early retirement. He should be hitting the links three times a week, taking his yacht out into The Bay, and "dabbling" in angel investing in his spare time. In Silicon Valley -- where finding a successful tech entrepreneur is easier than finding a Starbucks -- Smith should be one of the legends. But he isn't.

    It was Smith who co-created the Musical Instrument Digital Interface in 1983, simply known as MIDI to the musical world, along with Ikutaro Kakehashi, the founder of Roland. MIDI allows electronic instruments and synthesizers to communicate, meaning a user can control multiple electronic instruments from one synthesizer or computer. It's this connection that forms the basis of most digital music. While the technology is used by composers and musicians in creating award-winning compositions and movie scores, it's MIDI's versatility that really matters. Making a home video on Apple (AAPL) iMovie? MIDI has been in the MacOS since 1995. Do you carry around a smartphone? (Humor us.) MIDI technology is in that, too. It powered the first wave of musical ringtones. Video games like Guitar Hero boast MIDI technology, as do the Bellagio Fountainand Treasure Island Pirate shows on the Las Vegas Strip.

    It's ironic, then, that MIDI's widespread success is also the very reason Smith isn't sitting on a fortune: He made the technology free. It's hard to fathom today, but when Smith collaborated with a handful of Japanese companies -- including Roland and Yamaha -- to bring MIDI into the world 30 years ago, he skipped the licensing fees, instead offering up his idea for the world to steal. "We wanted to be sure we had 100% participation, so we decided not to charge any other companies that wanted to use it," says Smith. It's nearly impossible, then, to determine the technology's monetary value, but its value to the music industry cannot be understated, says Tom White, President of the MIDI Manufacturer's Association, who believes MIDI is the most important technology in the history of music. "[MIDI] hasn't earned any revenue," he added, "but by putting the technology in products, it makes the products more valuable."

    As electronic synthesizers and keyboards were beginning to take off in the late '70s and early '80s, Smith realized that there was a major issue: Technology from different manufacturers couldn't communicate, meaning collaboration between musical minds could be roadblocked if one user had a Roland while another had a Yamaha. Smith was operating his own company at the time, Sequential Circuits, and had created a synthesizer known as the Prophet 5 in 1978. (Even this technology was groundbreaking: The Prophet 5 was one of the first commercial instruments with a microprocessor, allowing musicians to save sounds and play multiple notes at the same time.)

    After calling for a universal digital interface at the 1981 Audio Engineering Society Convention in New York, Smith created a rough version of what he hoped the new product would look like, calling it a Universal Synthesizer Interface, or USI. He then held a meeting for all those interested in actually building a product at the 1982 National Association of Music Merchants ("NAMM") Show in Anaheim. "I basically said, 'Everybody needs to come together and design something,'" says Smith. "'It doesn't have to be [USI], this is just a starting point, but we have to do something.'" Only a handful of people showed up, but among them was Kakehashi. One year later at the 1983 NAM Show in January, Smith displayed the collaborative result in a low-key demonstration at his company's booth: He connected Sequential Circuit's Prophet 600 to Roland's Jupiter 6. MIDI was alive.