Kurzweil truly awed people with their first product, the K250. Expensive but the first powerful workstation built into a keyboard. So many things seldom to never seen in one unit. A nice full weighted 88 key action. Good quality sampling interface. Great Sample set. I mean...this is the first instrument that could go through a bunch of sounds and impress the listener with their authenticity really. Certainly one of the most attention getting new products of the whole shootin' match.
The company "Kurzweil Music systems" was started by Raymond Kurzweil of MIT who did extensive work on character recognition for the blind from 1966 til 1982 when he founded this company. Apparently Stevie Wonder encouraged him to build the K250. Here are some more details on that.
But in the process of seeing how that product and the K150 harmonic synth didn't sell a lot, the trimmed down K1000 series were released and they sold big. Young Chang began acquiring the company in 1990 and I've not heard how much or who was involved in the development of the K2000. And I'm not sure who decided to throw customer service out the window. Customers I knew with K2000's who had problems weren't treated real well. To say the least. The K2500 and 2600 machines were then released, touted as the machine to have again being more open architecture than anything else and having good feeling key movements. The price made other options seem better to some. But they remain conceptually some of the finest machines made. Being a trouble magnet, I've stayed away from their newer machines to date, unlike THIS guy. They still make a nifty ribbon controller and apprently since the K2000 series things have gotten much better in terms of people having minimal problems with things in the synth line.
Meanwhile Ray himself has risen to international fame. He is renown for some of his philosophical works as well as his technological achievments. Some of his quotes trouble me as I see him mentioned in relation to a lot of the Bildebergers activities. (Bilderbergs are an international group of power mongers who involve many of our own politicians illegally in secretive meetings where various things like oil prices and other little nick-nacks are decided. Sadly people can't be content to just enjoy their artistic abilities in the midst of the vast wealth that befalls them. They have to get involved in trying to manipulate other people all too often; attempting to forge out a world that their limited perspective tells them is ideal even if it means killing a bunch of people in the process. PS for those who don't know, government officials in the US are not allowed by law to meet secretly with foreign officials in order to avoid the kinds of corruption that have beset us. In other words Hillary should be in jail, not running for office.) Tell me it ain't so Ray. Tell me it ain't so.
NOTE: I read that Kurzweil will now be distributed by American Music and Sound. 10/09
Products:
K250 K150 K1000 Series K2000 K2500 K2600