MIDI之父：不為人知的硅谷傳奇

????戴夫?史密斯早就應該是個億萬富豪了，至少也應該是個能早早退休的千萬富翁。他應該每周打上三場高爾夫球，駕著游艇在灣區游弋，空閑時間里“玩玩”天使投資。要知道，在硅谷找個成功的技術企業家可比找家星巴克（Starbucks）容易得多，而史密斯早就應該是硅谷的傳奇人物了。但他恰恰還不是。

????1983年，史密斯和羅蘭公司（Roland）的創始人梯郁太郎合作開發了“樂器數字接口”（Musical Instrument Digital Interface），也就是音樂界廣為人知的MIDI。MIDI可讓電子樂器和合成器交流，這意味著，用戶可在一臺合成器或電腦上控制多臺電子樂器。正是這種連接能力構成了絕大多數數字音樂的基礎。作曲家和音樂家使用這項技術創作屢獲大獎和樂曲和電影配樂時，MIDI的豐富功能起著至關重要的作用。你想在蘋果（Apple）電腦的iMovie上制作家庭錄像嗎？自1995年起，MIDI就已經內置在MacOS中了。你用智能手機嗎？（這問題有點多余。）智能手機就采用了MIDI技術，第一代彩鈴就是以MIDI為技術支撐的。像《吉他英雄》（Guitar Hero）這類視頻游戲也用到了MIDI技術，而拉斯維加斯的百樂宮噴泉（Bellagio Fountain）和《金銀島海盜》表演（Treasure Island Pirate）也不例外。

????不過頗具諷刺意味的是，正是因為MIDI處處大獲成功，才導致史密斯沒能發家致富：因為他免費提供了這項技術。這在今天可能很難想象，但30年前，當史密斯和眾多日本公司合作——包括羅蘭公司（Roland）和雅馬哈公司（Yamaha），將MIDI技術推向世界時，他沒要求授權費，而是慷慨地把自己創意奉獻給了全世界，任人取用。史密斯說：“我們想確保自己能100%參與合作項目，所以決定，不管哪家公司想用這項技術，我們都不收費?！盡IDI制造商協會會長湯姆?懷特表示，那時候幾乎不可能確定這項技術的貨幣價值，但它對音樂產業的價值不容低估。他相信，MIDI是音樂發展史上最重要的技術。他說：“（MIDI）本身從來沒掙到過一分錢。但這項技術植入產品后，就使產品具有了更大的價值?！?/p>

????20世紀70年代末期和80年代早期，電子合成器和電子琴開始蓬勃發展。當時，史密斯意識到一個大問題：不同廠商的技術無法溝通，這就意味著如果音樂人一個使用羅蘭牌而另一人使用雅馬哈牌，他們就難以合作。當時史密斯正經營著自己的公司“時序電路”（Sequential Circuits），并在1978年就已生產出一款名為“先知5號”（Prophet 5）的合成器（這款產品所用的技術當時也具有開創性：它是首批帶有微處理器的商用音樂設備之一，可讓音樂人在彈奏多個曲子的同時保存音效。）

????1981年，在紐約舉辦的“音響工程協會大會”（Audio Engineering Society Convention）上，史密斯呼吁業內采用通用數字接口。隨后，他開發了一款他心目中的新產品的初級版，名為“通用合成器接口”，簡稱USI。1982年，在阿納海姆舉辦的“全美音樂商協會”（National Association of Music Merchants）展示會上，他為所有有意生產采用這項技術的產品的廠商舉辦了一個會議。史密斯稱：“我當時只是告訴大家，‘大家得并肩合作，設計出東西來’，它不一定就是USI，這只是個起點，但我們得有所作為?！?只有為數不多的廠商參加了這次會議，其中就有梯郁太郎。一年以后，在1983年1月舉辦的“全美音樂商協會”展會上，史密斯在自己公司的展臺上低調地展出了兩人的合作成果：他將“時序電路”公司的“先知600”置入了羅蘭公司的“朱庇特6”。MIDI就此誕生。

????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.