MIDI Association Lifetime Achievement Awards at April NAMM 2023

At the April NAMM show, The MIDI Association honored the people who created the modern music production environment of synths, drum machines, and sequencers, including Bob Moog, Don Buchla, Ikutaro Kakehashi, Tsutomu Katoh, Roger Linn, Tom Oberheim, Alan Pearlman, Dave Rossum, and Dave Smith. 

A significant portion of The MIDI Association booth was dedicated to the Lifetime Achievement Award (LTA) display and there were even the instruments that represented the LTA winners. 

Roland provided a TR909 and a Jupiter 6, Moog provided a brand new Mini Moog Model D, Sequential provided both a new Prophet 5 and an OB8X, Korg provided an FS700s and a Arp Odessey.  There were even Buchla products including the Thunder and Lightning,  Dave Rossum  not only provided SP-1200 Reissue (serial #12) and Eurorack case holding Rossum modules: 2 Locutus 2 Assimil8or", an Morpheus", a Panharmonium, but he took the time to come by and help set all the gear up correctly.

The banners have a QR code that will take you directly to the MIDI Association article about that Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

The Lifetime Achievement Award product display was a very popular spot with many people taking and posting photos with the historic gear.  One of the great parts of this story is that these are not just historical instruments from the past, but many of these products are recent re-releases that are currently available in the market.   This underscores that these music production innovators are still impacting music today.

Lifetime Achivement Award winners at the MIDI@40 Concert 

At the MIDI@40 concert on Saturday, April 15 2023, the video above was played at the concert and then awards were given out to the winners or the people who were representing the winners. 

Each person received an individualized award. 

From right to left in this picture are: 

Michelle Moog-Koussa receiving the award on behalf of her father, Bob Moog. 

Ezra Buchla receiving the award on behalf of his father, Don Buchla.

Dina Pearlman receiving the award on behalf of her father, Alan R Pearlman. 

Morgan Walker of Korg USA receiving the award on behalf of Tsutomu Katoh with Jeff Babko from the Jimmy Kimmel show.

Ikuo Kakehashi receiving the award on behalf of his father, Ikutaro Kakehashi. 

Denise Smith receiving the award on behalf of her husband, Dave Smith.

Marcus Ryle receiving the award on behalf of Tom Oberheim. 

Dave Rossum receiving the award on behalf of Roger Linn and his own Lifetime Achievement Award.