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.
Paul McCartney and his band perform on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” with a Kurzweil synthesizer on stage, on December 11, 2010.
Also see:
NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” official website
Video of Paul McCartney’s “Saturday Night Live” performance on Hulu
A Kurzweil PC3K8 keyboard is featured live on stage with Roger Daltrey and the Who at the Super Bowl’s halftime show on February 7, 2010.
Source: Kurzweil Music Systems — December, 2009 | KMS Staff
Kurzweil Music Systems proudly announces the release of the PC3K keyboard, expanding the PC3 line to include key new features along with backwards compatibility with the legendary K Series product line.
In addition to all of the innovative features that made the PC3 a major success, the PC3K features 128 MB of non-volatile user sample memory. Utilizing a breakthrough in sample flash technology, the PC3K allows user samples to… read more
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: Kurzweil Music Systems — November 18, 2010 | KMS staff
Click here to view the new Kurzweil PC3K8 brochure, which opens as an Adobe pdf.
From the Kurzweil archives: Stevie Wonder playing the Kurzweil 250 in concert with George Michael and Diana Ross in 1988.
Source: Kurzweil Music Systems — December 23, 2010
Kurzweil Music Systems is proud to announce the release of OS V2.0 for the PC3 line. Included are many new features and over 200 new presets, many of which are the result of direct input and feedback from our customers.
V2.0 demonstrates our continued focus on the concept of non-obsolescence by design and our commitment to our customers, which lasts long after a Kurzweil keyboard is purchased.
One… read more
Source: Kurzweil Music Systems — January 20, 2010 | Ray Kurzweil
Stevie Wonder and I presented together at a VIP reception for music industry executives at NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants), the big annual musical instrument convention and trade show in Anaheim on January 15.
I shared some anecdotes from my 33 year friendship with Stevie and 25 year history of Kurzweil Music.
Stevie shared his thoughts about the same history, said some gracious things, and sang… read more
Source: Kurzweil Music Systems — January 4, 2011
Kurzweil Music Systems will be showing off a wide array of exciting new products at the 2011 NAMM show in Anaheim this year. With strong new additions to both our home and pro lines, we’re expecting even more traffic than we saw during last year’s successful show.
Kurzweil pro products will be shown at the large American Music and Sound booth, located in a prime spot on… read more
Source: MusicRadar — January 18, 2010
25 years since the launch of Kurzweil’s K250 ground-breaking synthesizer, Stevie Wonder joined Ray Kurzweil for the launch of Kurzweil’s new flagship model, the PC3K. On Friday night, in a small suite at the Anaheim Hilton, an invited audience saw Kurzweil present Stevie with the new model who then enthralled the audience with an impromptu performance of two songs.
The PC3K keyboard expands the PC3 line to include key… read more