Anything but boring

The corporate history of Kurzweil Music Systems begins in 1976 with a meeting between Stevie Wonder and Raymond „Ray“ Kurzweil. After his studies he invented the world’s first reading machine, which enabled blind people to have printed text read aloud by machine, and Stevie Wonder was the first customer for this device.

Over time the two became good friends and had many conversations, among other things about applications in the music industry that the technology made possible.

This challenge sparked Raymond’s interest, and shortly afterwards in 1983 he founded the company Kurzweil Music Systems. In the same year a first prototype was presented at NAMM, which a year later resulted in the first units of the K250 being produced and delivered. At first there was much scepticism about whether an electronic device could really replicate the sound of an acoustic piano, but after a number of A/B comparisons with real pianists the answer was clear: “Yes!” So what made the K250 so special? The synthesizer featured an 88-key weighted keyboard, 12-voice polyphony and 2 MB ROM, on which the internal samples were stored. For the time these specifications were considered exceptional.

However, Kurzweil did not rest on its success but continuously advanced the technology over the years. This of course didn’t go unnoticed among musicians, making Kurzweil controllers and synthesizers welcome guests on stages and in studios around the world.

In 1990 the company was acquired by the Korean piano maker Young Chang, who still manufactures the instruments in the USA to the same high quality.

True bestsellers and crowd-pleasers from Kurzweil include the two flagships K2700 and the brand-new K2088. With their 88 weighted hammer-action keys, authentic tones and professional features they excite both studio and live keyboardists alike. A complete list of features as well as video content can be found on the respective product detail pages.