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David P. Rossum is an American electronics engineer and inventor best known as the co-founder of synthesizer and sampler manufacturer E-mu Systems.

Education and early career

Rossum attended the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), earning a Bachelor of Science Biology in 1970.

Later that year while pursuing graduate studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Rossum's advisor, Harry Noller, invited him to join him in the music department where students were unpacking the university's new Moog Model 12 modular synthesizer. Rossum discovered an affinity for synthesis and invited his Caltech friends Steve Gabriel and Jim Ketcham to come see the Model 12. Together, they were inspired to start designing a synthesizer. In 1971 Ketcham heard there was a request for bid from the San Diego School District for music synthesizers to add to their high school music program, and Rossum and his friends decided to build a prototype in an attempt to win the bid. A company name was needed for invoices related to the parts purchased for these synthesizers, and Rossum came up with the name Eµ Systems. The completed prototype, which they named "Black Mariah" did not win, and they destroyed it by pushing it out the Dabney House library window. That summer, joined by high school friend Scott Wedge, Rossum used a $3000 inheritance from his grandmother to finance building another prototype, the E-mu 25. After completing the prototype, all but Rossum, Wedge, and Rossum's girlfriend, Paula Butler, decided to pursue other interests.

Career

Rossum left graduate school and, in the fall of 1972, E-mu announced the E-mu Modular System, and on November 27, 1972, he and Wedge co-founded E-mu as a company located in an apartment unit in Santa Clara, California. In 1973 Rossum developed the E-mu 4050, the first digitally scanned polyphonic keyboard on the market,

Rossum met Tom Oberheim at the AES Convention in 1974 and the two became friends. He helped Oberheim with a circuit for dynamic control of Oberheim's phase shifter, which Oberheim Electronics patented with Rossum as the inventor. Similarly, Oberheim Electronics patented the polyphonic music synthesizer based on Rossum's polyphonic keyboard technology, with Rossum as the inventor. Oberheim Electronics licensed the polyphonic keyboard technology in the 4-Voice, one of the first production synthesizers capable of playing chords.

Together with Ron Dow, Rossum co-developed the first analog synthesizer integrated chips manufactured by Solid State Music (later Solid State Microtechnology for Music, or SSM).

In summer of 1977, he worked as a consultant for Dave Smith and Sequential Circuits, working on the operating system and analog circuits for the Prophet-5, which also licensed E-mu's digital scanning keyboard technology. Rossum also became friends with Roger Linn, who hired E-mu for a design review of the LM-1 Drum Computer before it went into production.

In the 1980s Rossum and E-mu became pioneers in samplers, sample-based drum machines and low-cost digital sampling music workstations, with innovations like shared memory, looping, and multi-sampling, in such products as the Emulator series of samplers, the SP-12 and SP-1200 sampling drum machines. In 1985, Rossum won Seattle Silicon's IC design contest with his first DSP, the E-chip, which would be at the heart of the Emax.

E-mu was acquired by Creative Technology, Ltd in 1993, and Rossum became Creative's Chief Scientist, Principal Technologist from 1996 until 2011, when he went to work for Audience, first as Principal Technologist, then as Senior Director of Architecture.

In 2015, he joined Universal Audio as Technical Fellow. The same year, he co-founded Rossum Electro-Music, designing and manufacturing Eurorack synthesizer modules.

Personal life

Rossum is an avid mountain climber and was involved with Caltech's alpine club. In April 2015, he completed the Big Sur International Marathon, placing 14th in his age group. He has taught scuba diving, and serves on the board of directors of the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

References

1. ^ "Dave Rossum: Electro-Music Engineer". Electronics & Music Maker. April 1983. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
2. ^ Keeble, Rob (September 2002). "30 Years of Emu". Sound On Sound. SOS Publications Group. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
3. ^ Grandl, Peter (2 July 2015). "Interview: Dave Rossum E-mu, Part One". Amazona.de. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
4. ^ Lowther, Simon (July 2000). "Tmu Modular (Retrozone)". Sound On Sound. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
5. Colbeck, Julian. Keyfax Omnibus Edition. Emeryville, CA: MixBooks. p. 25. ISBN 0-918371-08-2.
6. Vail, Mark (1993). Vintage Synthesizers. San Francisco, California, USA: Miller Freeman Books. ISBN 0-87930-275-5.
7. Paradiso, Joseph (March 1998). "Electronic Music Interfaces". paradiso.media.mit.edu. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
8. Vail, Mark (2014). The Synthesizer. Oxford University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0195394894.
9. Ballou, Glen, ed. (2015). Handbook for Sound Engineers. UK: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781135016654. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
10. ^ Grandl, Peter (3 July 2015). "Interview: Dave Rossum E-mu, Part Two". Amazona.de. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
11. Chadabe, Joel (1997). Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music. New Jersey, US: Prentice-Hall. p. 187. ISBN 0-13-303231-0.
12. Grandl, Peter (3 July 2015). "Interview: Dave Rossum E-mu, Part Two". Amazona.de. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
13. Grandl, Peter (6 July 2015). "Interview: Dave Rossum E-mu, Part Three". Amazona.de. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
14. ^ Grandl, Peter (15 July 2015). "Interview: Dave Rossum E-mu, Part Four". Amazona.de. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
15. Bjørn, Kim; Meyer, Chris (2018). Patch & Tweak: Exploring Modular Synthesis. Denmark: Bjooks. pp. 228–231. ISBN 978-87-999995-1-4.
16. Darwin Grosse (11 July 2017). "Art + Music + Technology Podcast 183: Dave Rossum". Art + Music + Technology (Podcast). Retrieved 9 January 2025.
17. Lansburgh, Janet (April 1971). "Climb Every Mountain- or anything else that's handy". Engineering & Science. Caltech Office of Public Relations. pp. 17–23. ISSN 0013-7812. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
18. Lee, Jay (November 1981). "Dave Rossum Interview" (PDF). Polyphony. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
19. "CMSF: Our Board". CMSF. Retrieved 10 January 2025.

External links

• Dave Rossum interview at NAMM Oral History Collection
• Rossum Electro-Music - official site

• Living people
• Inventors of musical instruments
• California Institute of Technology alumni
• Analog electronics engineers
• American inventors