Podcast 243: Denis Labrecque

Art + Music + Technology

There are many people that we've heard about through the history of electronic music device development: David Smith, Roger Linn, Ikutaru Kakehashi and others. But there are many people that are less heralded - but still critical to the game. Denis Labrecque is one of those people: as a marketer/developer/designer, he was involved in the music industry well before MIDI made its mark, continuing through the MIDI/computer age, and continuing now into more compact and focused hybrid devices. Denis has gotten a chance to see it all.

In our chat, we mostly focus on Denis' history within the industry, starting with Star Instruments (designers of the Synare), to Passport Designs (which started off working on Apple II computers, but quickly jumped on the MIDI wagon), to Emu and then Analog Devices. He has always worked a bit in the background, but anyone that has been at a tradeshow will probably have bumped into him over the years. He has worked on many of the things that make our musical world possible, and it was amazing to hear his stories of those efforts.

Enjoy this wild ride through the MI industry roller coaster, and take some time to learn more about the people that made - and sometimes broke! - the world we inhabit.

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