This video, via synth4ever, captures a tour of the offices and studio of Dave Smith Instruments.
DSI’s Carson Day acts as the tour guide and offers his take on the history of Sequential Circuits, Dave Smith Instruments and their synths.
Video Summary:
An in-depth synth studio and office tour of Dave Smith Instruments (DSI) in San Francisco, California — including the DSI synthesizer showroom, Dave Smith’s office and personal synth collection, and walk-through of the Dave Smith Instruments office.
Timings:
0:00 – INTRO / DSI HEADQUARTERS
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1:10 – DSI SYNTH STUDIO & SHOWROOM
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1:39 – Mono Evolver & Poly Evolver
2:35 – Tempest
3:02 – Prophet REV2
4:13 – Prophet 6
4:33 – OB-6
4:47 – Pioneer DJ Toraiz SP-16
4:58 – Pioneer DJ AS1
5:11 – PRO2
5:45 – Prophet 12 / P12
6:24 – Mopho X4, Mopho SE, Mopho, Tetra
7:05 – Prophet 12 / P12 desktop
7:57 – Wrap up & leaving the showroom
8:07 – AWARDS
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8:43 – DAVE SMITH’S PERSONAL OFFICE & SYNTH COLLECTION
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9:05 – Moog Model D
10:14 – Prophet 5
11:22 – Sequential Circuits Pro FX
12:16 – Prophet 10 (inside look)
14:06 – Prophet T8
15:39 – Dave’s tequila collection
16:11 – Posters
17:11 – DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTS OFFICE
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17:48 – Repairs, testing & support
18:55 – Beta instruments
19:18 – PRO2 (inside look)
20:21 – OB-6 (inside look)
21:35 – 3D Printer
22:00 – Sales, artist & media relations
22:33 – Marketing materials & Studio 440
23:09 – Evolver & Sequential Circuits posters
23:44 – Korg MS-20
23:57 – Awards
24:08 – DSI shot glasses
25:09 – WRAP-UP & OUTRO
I really enjoyed that! So much history there. Sentimental for me, especially when the Studio 440 was shown; I remember drooling for the 440 back in 1986 or 1987 when I saw one at Sysco Systems in London. And that same day at Syco, Kendal Wrightson showed me Sequential’s beast sampler that was ahead of the game: the Prophet 3000.
I’m so thrilled that Dave Smith is back in the game…and Bob Moog (R.I.P.). They’ve changed/shaped the synth market yet again since 2001. Awesome of Dave Smith to collaborate with Tom Oberheim and Roger Linn. The masters. The wizards! The game-changers!
This was a great in-depth tour. I really enjoyed it. Makes me REALLY wish I could work there. Alas, I likely do not possess any of the skills they might need.
Jeffrey im sure they could do with a maid 😉
Maybe ebay has Maids uniform you can buy 😉
Wow,
its not often that one’s allowed such a detailed tour through an actual office!
Very nice!
Yeah… I thought this was really cool. Thanks for the video, and lots of love and gratitude to Carson and all the folks at DSI who are making great instruments these days.
I was thinking this story wouldn’t be complete without a viewing of Dave’s tequila collection, and it failed to disappoint!
Evolver and Tetra was my past.
Mopho x4 is my present.
Rev2 is my future.
MIDI is all of them.
it’s that simple.
Bless DSI/Sequential for it all. Shaped synth history, and then re-shaped it’s future.
Fucking amazing guy.
You have no idea of my willingness to work there.
Hey DSI, please email-me if you need an audio engineer for LA 🙂
Great tour! And good to hear that they’re up to 14 employees from 7 two years ago – bodes well for the future of interesting and musical synths!
(I’m completely torn between a Prophet-8 Rev 2 and the OB-6!!)
That’s what the Demo Room is for…
Take the OB-6! There is nothing like an Oberheim OB-8, but the OB-6 is damn close.
when will DSI release a Tempest SE or MK2 ?
Never. The original Tempest was a bit of a disaster. They failed to deliver on updates and features and in the end users had to sign a petition to get basic bug fixes from DSI. After that final update (last year I think) DSI quickly discontinued the Tempest after a lifecycle of only about 5 years
Tempest has not been discontinued, FYI.
oh boy, i cannot believe this… the video was totally unprofessionally made. day had no mike attached to him! one would think that if you plan such a meeting you want to make sure that the interviewee is *not* difficult to hear. well, apparently not. *facepalm*
..Great.. can’t wait for the cost of real 101’s to drop! Lol.
I bet prices go up from all the attention..
Carson, thanks for the awesome, detailed ride through DSI. By the time the video was over, it only seemed like a few minutes had passed instead of the twenty-five that are broken down. Much application given to synthtopia for posting it as well.
Oh man! I stood in front of the lift in the summer of 2015 and wanted to visit the studio, but there wasn’t a sign anywhere and I didn’t know where this lift was going to. Didn’t want to intrude on people who didn’t expect visitors. Now I am back in Germany and wasted my only chance to see this in real life. Nice video! thx