So Sad To Fall In Battle by Ikutaro Kakehashi

A memoir tracing an inventor’s journey from a modest wartime childhood in Japan to founding pioneering electronic-instrument companies, detailing the development of iconic drum machines, synthesizers, and the push to establish the MIDI standard. It combines technical insight, entrepreneurial lessons, and personal anecdotes to show how persistent innovation, collaboration, and market instincts reshaped modern music production. Candid about successes and setbacks, the narrative reveals the creative drive and business decisions behind technologies that transformed popular music worldwide.