Kurzweil Music Systems

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Kurzweil Music Systems is a company that produces electronic musical instruments for professionals and home users. Founded 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 now has a stake in Young Chang and has appointed Raymond Kurzweil as Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems^[1].

Kurzweil's products are widely regarded as high quality, but their high pricing in a competitive market has prevented Kurzweil from gaining widespread adoption.

1 Products
2 Competition
3 Kurzweil Users
4 References
5 External links

The company's flagship line of synthesizers, the K2x series, began to make real headway with the K2000, which introduced the company's acclaimed VAST (Variable Architecture Synthesis Technology) engine. Throughout the 1990s, updates and upgrades to the K2000 (and eventually its successors, the K2500 and K2600) ensured that the K2x series was regarded as one of the most powerful and best-sounding synthesizers/samplers available.

The K2000 was released in 1990 and was available in four versions, the K2000, K2000S, K2000R, and K2000RS. The S versions contain the hardware required for sampling, while the R versions are rack-mountable; the versions without an R feature 61 pressure-sensitive keys. The K2000 is capable of 24 voice polyphony, which is somewhat limited, although up to 4 oscillators per voice can be used and an intelligent voice stealing algorithm retires the playing notes which are estimated to be least audible rather than simple the oldest. Each voice of the K2000 is able to play a separate program, allowing for smooth transitions during live performance, this simple feature took Kurzweil's competitors more than a decade to match. The keyboard could be equipped with up to 64 megabytes of sample RAM for user loaded samples.

The K2500, released in 1996, was an incremental improvement to the K2000 which increased polyphony to 48 voices and made a number of other minor improvements. The K2500 was available in several versions, including a choice of 76 note semi-weighted, 88 note weighted action keyboard, or rack-mount without keyboard. It was also available with or without sample recording hardware. The K2500 also included a ribbon controller.

The K2600, released in 1999, improved on the K2500 with the addition of a new effects engine called KDFX and an enhancement to the VAST engine called triple-mode. KDFX was also offered as an upgrade for the K2500 and later made available as a standalone product in the KSP8.

In the mid 90s, they introduced the PC88 keyboard which was advertised more as a MIDI controller. It was good for this purpose because it had 88 fully weighted keys and the ability to set four zones for controlling different instruments. It was also a bit smaller so it was more portable than the K series instruments. The instrument itself had over 300 internal sound patches and the ability to combine them together with different effects. It was common for performers to use this instrument in combination with a rack mount K series synth. In the late 90s, Kurzweil introduced the PC2 Series of keyboards. In Summer 2007, Kurzweil is launching the PC3 Performance Controller.

The initial Kurzweil SP Series are Stage Pianos based on the popular Kurzweil Micro Piano half-rack module of the mid-90's. It provides 32 sounds including pianos, electric pianos, organs, strings and synths. The board is also a fairly capable midi controller, and features two ribbon controllers. In Summer of 2007, Kurzweil plans to launch the SP2.

The Kurzweil Midiboard, a dedicated MIDI controller, was conceived of and specified by Jeff Tripp, then president of Key Concepts. It was perhaps the first of the pure keyboard controllers, brought to market to complement Kurzweil's rack mounted synthesizers. 'Midiboard' was, in fact, a Key Concepts trademark, transferred to Kurzweil Music Systems as part of a licensing agreement.

Its novel sensing system, invented and patented by Tripp and Key Concepts co-founder, John Allen, provided velocity, individual aftertouch pressure, and release velocity information from a single sensor per key. Each sensor was shaped as an arch of conductive rubber which served as one plate of a capacitor and was designed to deform (change shape under pressure) in a scaled way . The sensors were nicknamed 'sushi sensors' because the first prototype was conductive rubber sheet (think 'nori') held in a barrel shape by a center of white silicone RTV (think 'the rice'). Released in 1988, the Midiboard's software and electronics were designed under contract to Key Concepts by Hal Chamberlin, then of Micro Technology Unlimited.

The Midiboard had its virtues and its drawbacks. It was reasonable to manufacture and relatively inexpensive for the range of input forces, both presses and impulse inputs, it could transduce. One of its drawbacks was that it was not well damped in very light playing, making touch uncertain. At some point, working for Kurzweil, Hal Chamberlin debounced this burble. A hardware fix was possible - splitting the sensors.

It contained a number of interesting innovations, some of which remain fairly uncommon. For example, most midi controllers provide aftertouch data, but the midiboard is capable of polyphonic aftertouch, a feature found on few other keyboards. The midiboard also provides comprehensive signal routing, layering, and transposition control. These advanced features are not without their cost: the Midiboard weighs approximately 100 lb and is fairly difficult to use.