About Kurzweil Music Systems
Kurzweil Music Systems was founded in 1982 by Ray Kurzweil, who, at that time, had been working with Stevie Wonder on developing a reading machine for the blind. It was during their collaboration that the inspiration for a Kurzweil digital musical instrument was born.
In 1983 Kurzweil Music Systems (KMS) released the K250, which presented to the world the first successful attempt to realistically emulate the sound of a grand piano in a digital keyboard. Over the next 25+ years, KMS released in succession a series of digital keyboards that were considered to represent the pinnacle of music technology in their day, among them the K2000, the PC88x and K2500. As a testament to how far ahead of their time these instruments were, they are still commonly used and requested by high profile artists around the world.
The current offerings from KMS, which include the highly successful PC3 family, are used by some of the biggest names in the music industry: Andrew Lloyd Weber, Roger Waters, The Who, Earth Wind and Fire, The Boston Pops, Amanda Palmer, Billy Joel, and Paul McCartney, to name a few.
With a small R&D facility located 12 miles west of Boston, the KMS team still meets regularly with Ray Kurzweil, who now serves as a strategic consultant for the company. The full time staff includes hardware, software and sound engineers, most of whom are also professional or amateur musicians. KMS continues to build on its legacy as a major innovator in the music technology industry and moves forward today under the proven leadership of Hyundai Development Company.
Source: Kurzweil Music Systems — January 20, 2007
Hyundai has appointed Ray Kurzweil as Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems. Hyundai, one of the world’s largest corporations, plans to work with Ray Kurzweil to “build Kurzweil Music Systems into one of the largest music instruments brands in the world,” Kurzweil stated.
Kurzweil, who founded Kurzweil Music Systems, Inc. in 1982, will work with Kurzweil Music Systems management on technology strategy and will also be a primary… read more
Source: NPR Fresh Air — March 7, 2005 | Terry Gross
NPR | The RZA is one of the founding members of the kung-fu-meets-hip-hop group the Wu Tang Clan. He has also written film scores, including Kill Bill and Ghost Dog. Now he has turned his efforts to a new book, The Wu Tang Manual. The RZA is also known as the Abbot, Bobby Digital, Prince Dynamite and more. His birth name is Robert F. Diggs.… read more
Source: NAMM Oral History Project — January 20, 2007 | NAMM staff
Ray Kurzweil appeared on the popular 1950s and 1960s quiz show “I’ve Got a Secret” to reveal that he had made a computer that could make music. Since those early days, Ray has come to define the computer age of music making.
Founder of Kurzweil Music, Ray designed some of the industry’s most noted electronic instruments of the 1980s and 1990s.
Ray was a pioneer in the field… read more
Here are some new videos with Jon Carin, keyboardist for Roger Waters, currently on tour with Roger Waters: The Wall Live, using Kurzweil keyboards exclusively.
The first clip features John Teele (software dept. manager) and me (senior soundware engineer) on stage about 20 minutes before the show started.
The next two clips are interviews with Jon. I thought the readers might enjoy these! — Dave Weiser, Kurzweil… read more
Hyundai has appointed Ray Kurzweil as Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems. Hyundai Development Corp., one of the world’s largest corporations, plans to work with Ray Kurzweil to “build Kurzweil Music Systems into one of the largest music instruments brands in the world,” Kurzweil stated.
Kurzweil, who founded Kurzweil Music in 1982, will work with Kurzweil Music Systems management on technology strategy and will also be a primary… read more
The Kurzweil PC3 synthesizer was featured at The White House on stage with band Earth, Wind & Fire in a performance for President Barack Obama for the Governors’ Dinner, the first formal White House dinner hosted by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on February 22,2009.
click here to watch the video from MSNBC
Source: Kurzweil Music Systems — December 2009
Love Never Dies, a continuation of the epic story of The Phantom of the Opera, will open in London’s West End at the Adelphi Theatre in March of 2009 … with Kurzweil’s new PC3K serving as a cornerstone of the musical production. Long a favorite of Broadway and stage productions worldwide, the Kurzweil K2600 had for years played a crucial role in both
… read more
The story of Stevie Wonder’s technical challenge to Ray Kurzweil that ultimately motivates the inception of Kurzweil Music Systems.
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Kurzweil Music Systems
Video Source: Kurzweil Music Systems
YouTube channel “Kurzweil Tutorials” is a great resource for fans of the Kurzweil Music Systems state of the art PC3x synthesizer. Put together by a KMS enthusiast, the channel showcases a wide range of tutorials. A great channel to bookmark. Click here to check it out.
Source: Kurzweil Music Systems
Myron McKinley, musical director for Earth, Wind & Fire discusses his long history and appreciation of Kurzweil musical instruments. Myron explains his method of alternative use of the PC3 K Series slider controls.
Source: Kurzweil Music Systems — January 14, 2009
The two latest additions to Kurzweil’s SP family of stage pianos, the SP2XS and the SP3x, debuted at this year’s NAMM show in Anaheim CA.
At the heart of every SP model is the famous Kurzweil Grand Piano sound. We started with the highest quality samples and then used a powerful synth engine behind the scenes to make them truly come to life as only Kurzweil could.
Source: Kurzweil Music Systems — November 10, 2010 | Ray Kurzweil
Stevie Wonder was our first customer for the Kurzweil Reading Machine (the first print-to-speech reading machine) in 1976. We became friends and had many conversations about technology as applied to both disabilities and music.
In 1982, while giving me a tour of his new ‘Wonderland’ music studio, Stevie asked if it would be possible to build a bridge between the powerful control methods of computer music (in which a… read more
Check out the Artist Lounge — profiles and links to professional musicians across the world who are on composing and performing with KMS products. | Click here to visit the Artist Lounge.
Source: Keyboard — October 2010 | Stephen Fortner
Executive Editor for Keyboard magazine, Stephen Fortner, hosts a video tour of Kurzweil Music’s Boston-based Research & Development lab.
