Brian Vincik

Video

Oral History Information

Interview Date
Job Title
MIDI Specification Publisher

Brian Vincik was in the right place at the right time. As a synthesizer enthusiast and engineer, Brian graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1979 and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when many of the most innovative synthesizer companies were designing new musical products. Brian became friendly with many of the designers and engineers including John Bowen from Sequential Circuits and Dave Smith (who would write the MIDI Spec.) Brian formed the first MIDI user group called the International MIDI Association in 1983 and was the sole source for the MIDI specification 1.0 in those early years in MIDI's development. In recent years Brian has been an invaluable resource for the NAMM Oral History program in identifying and locating many of the important players in the early days of synth design and development.