Music Manufacturing
Jerry Kovarsky was the product/brand manager at KORG for over 15 years. Working with Jack Hotop they were part of the team that created a long line of innovative synthesizer products for KORG, including the Triton, the Oasys, and more recently the M3 and the Kronos. Jerry played a vital role in...
Michael Gurian established Gurian Instruments, which was incorporated in 1982, and focused originally on creating specialty tools, parts and decorative wood inlay for musical instrument makers. Since that time the company has expanded its production and methods to serve the needs of multiple...
Jack Hotop was among the innovative engineers at KORG during the early synthesizer craze, creating the first MIDI workstation, the KORG M1. During his long career at KORG, Jack has teamed with fellow engineer Jerry Kovarsky who later became product manager. Together they lead the team that created...
Herbert Deutsch was down in Robert Moog’s basement when the two men were redrafting the design of an electronic synthesizer in the early 1960s. Herb suggested that the modular unit with patch cords was hard to play as a musical instrument and wondered if it could be controlled by an organ-type...
Roger Linn forever changed the way people dance! As the inventor of the electronic Linn drum machine, he ushered in the new wave of electronic dance music beginning in the 1980s. The Linn drum machine also brought new meaning to the term “re-mix” and opened up a new era of sampling for club dj’s...
Dave Smith was the founder of Sequential Circuits and inventor of the polyphonic synthesizer, the Prophet 5. Dave was also the designer and original pioneer of MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) technology. Dave became a part of an active group of innovators in the San Francisco Bay Area...
Hershel Green spent much of his career in the piano and organ field, working as salesman, technician, and tuner. Along the way, he gained the respect of reps and dealers alike. As a side hobby, Hershel collected Hammond clocks and items regarding the history of the man who made those clocks and...
Norman Erickson was hired by the Lowrey Company in 1947. At that time, the company was still producing cement powder mixture. However, Lowrey’s owner had an interest in the electronic organ that was being developed by Laurinz Hammond, so he sought Norm as an engineer. Norm’s designs, in addition to...
Don Broman worked long and hard in the music products industry, striving to create quality products and dependable customer service to dealers around the world. When he joined the Lyon & Healy company in 1937 the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, yet Don worked hard with the...
Anna Sipavich was a real life Rosie the Riveter with ties to the music products industry. She was a factory worker at the Wurlitzer Company in DeKalb, IL, when the Second World War broke out. As talk of lay-offs floated around the company in the early days of the war, a government job soon allowed...