MIDI
Roger Kraft was a pioneer in the retailing of electronic musical instruments such as keyboards and synthesizers in the 1980s. Many may recall the days of keyboard stores throughout the United States in the early days of MIDI, when innovative keyboards were the craze. With a background in...
Casey Young has designed synthesizers and programed electronic instruments for a string of albums and movies over his long career. As a keyboardist in the late 60s, Casey found it easy and natural to explore the exciting new developments in electronic musical instruments. As a result he began...
Marco Ragni is the president of Fatar, which has concentrated on the development of keyboard actions for electronic musical instrument. The company products include keyboards for digital pianos, synthesizers, and organs as well as the furniture used in technopolymer for synthesizers and...
Philip Leader is a freelance content programmer for electronic musical instruments, with a background in piano, organ and keyboard sales, following in the footsteps of his dad Alec Leader, who was a Concert Artist for Lowrey, Thomas, Hammond, Kimball and Roland, through the 70s and 80s. Alec had...
Ryoichi Sasaki was hired by Yamaha in 1967 working in the method book division. In 1978, he formed his own publishing company, Rittor Music, which focuses on producing music-themed magazines, including guitar and technology magazines. Ryoichi has also been very active in copyrights and the rights...
Hirokazu Kato took part in the innovative engineering team at Yamaha in Japan who utilized FM Synthesis to create an electronic musical instrument, first the TRX prototype and then the revolutionary DX7. Kato-san began his career with Yamaha in 1965 when he helped design the company's first...
Dave Froker began playing guitar as a teenager and after working in another industry saw an ad in Guitar Player Magazine for a job opening at DigiDesign. He enjoyed his work with that company and the team before starting a small company with Peter Gotcher called Topspin. While the company did not...
Cecil Ramirez started in the music industry in retail, at the Music Box in Lodi, California. He created a keyboard studio feel within the store in1983, which was an exciting time of technological advances in electronic instrumentation. Cecil remembered the early days of MIDI and the synthesizer...
Ray Williams grew up in the Caribbean. His father, a police officer, played music during his time off of work. Ray’s brother played guitar, Ray picked up the bass, and he was always encouraged by his father to make music. At an early age, Ray focused his music making around the computer, which...
Tom White is the President of the MIDI Manufacturing Association. The organization was created following the 1983 introduction of MIDI at the NAMM Show. Since that time Tom has created a strong mission along with strategies to grow the association. The mission includes insuring interoperability...