Music engineer and electronic music composer Don Lewis has died at the age of 81.
A statement shared via Lewis’ Facebook page confirmed the news this week. A cause of death is currently unclear.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, Lewis was an early pioneer of electronic music and its development. He was known as the creator of the Live Electronic Orchestra (LEO), a custom rig that brought multiple instruments together into one controller system before the MIDI controller was created.
Lewis also worked closely with Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi, helping to develop a number of the Japanese musical instrument manufacturer’s best-loved products like the TR-808, FR-7L, CR-68 and CR-78. Away from Roland, he had a hand in the development of the Yamaha DX7 synth too.
In addition to his work in developing instruments, Lewis produced music for film, TV and adverts, with Quincy Jones among his collaborators. In his later life, he taught at University of California, Berkeley. A documentary film about his life, The Ballad Of Don Lewis: The Untold Story Of A Synthesizer Pioneer, was released in 2020.
