Kurzweil Music Systems

Kurzweil Music Systems is a company that produces electronic musical instruments for professionals and home users. Founded in 1982 by Raymond Kurzweil, a developer of reading machines for the blind, the company made use of many of the technologies originally designed for reading machines and adapted them to musical purposes. They released their first instrument, the K250 in 1983, and have continued producing new instruments ever since.

The company was acquired by Young Chang in 1990. Hyundai acquired Young Chang in 2006 and in January 2007 has appointed Raymond Kurzweil as Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems.

Products

K250 synthesizer

The company launched the K250 synthesizer/sampler in 1984: while limited by today's standards and quite expensive, it was considered to be the first really successful attempt to emulate the complex sound of a grand piano. This instrument was inspired by a bet between Ray Kurzweil and musician Stevie Wonder over whether a synthesizer could sound like a real piano. First issued as a very large and heavy keyboard, the electronics were also issued in a very large and heavy rackmount version, as the 250RMX (Rack Mount "Expander" -- the presumed intention being that one could drive via MIDI and sequencers one or more "expanders"). Additional sample ROMS were developed and issued for both models.

K150 synthesizer

As opposed to using 'sample-based' or 'subtractive' synthesis, the K150 (a...
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