From sevush@rcn.com Mon Oct 22 16:58:03 2001
Subject:RE: clone spotting

Thanks for backing me up. Since you addressed the post to me, I need to
point out that wasn't me that said Kurzweil has made acoustic pianos for
years. Good to read my faded neurons remember some details fairly
accurately, according to their propaganda.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bruce Wahler [mailto:bruce@ashbysolutions.com]
> Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 7:18 PM
> To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [CWSG] clone spotting
>
> Dan,
>
> >In regards to the Kurzweil question...
> >
> >Kurzweil makes great acoustic pianos.....have been for
> years. In fact I
> >believe they were a piano company before they got into keyboards.
> >They make some of the best uprights as well....(although...I
> personally
> >don't like uprights) Their mid-market grands are the best
> on the market for
> >the price in my opinion.
>
> I hate to burst your bubble, but ...
>
> From the Kurzweil Music Systems site:
>
> "Kurzweil Music Systems Inc. was founded by inventor Raymond
> Kurzweil, who
> had developed a revolutionary reading machine for the blind
> that scans
> written materials and reads them aloud in a synthesized
> voice. Musician
> Stevie Wonder, a customer for the reading machine, challenged
> Ray Kurzweil
> to create an electronic instrument that blended the richness
> of acoustic
> sound with the control and sound modification of electronics.
> The Kurzweil
> engineers then developed the first ROM-based sampling keyboard to
> successfully reproduce the full complexity of acoustic
> instrument sounds -
> the K250. When the K-250 was introduced in 1983, the music
> industry was
> astounded by its ability to emulate a piano, strings, choirs,
> drums and
> other acoustic instruments with extraordinary accuracy. Since then,
> electronic musical instruments have had a new benchmark of
> quality for
> which to strive.
>
> "In mid-1990, Young Chang acquired part of the technology and
> engineering
> team from the original Kurzweil Music Systems, Inc. This
> engineering staff
> is housed at the Young Chang R & D Institute, located in Waltham, MA.
> Raymond Kurzweil has long since left the company, but
> Kurzweil's reputation
> continues to grow as new technologies are developed and
> Kurzweil engineers
> sample new sounds from around the world, using state of the
> art digital
> technology to add to the sound library. Today the Kurzweil
> product line
> features a wide array of electronic instruments for both the home and
> professional musician. The top of the line K2600 Series professional
> sampling synthesizers feature Kurzweil's Variable
> Architecture Synthesis
> Technology (V.A.S.T.®) and represent Kurzweil's most advanced
> offerings to
> date.
>
> "Kurzweil Music Systems' Professional Products continue to be
> the choice of
> leading musicians, recording studios and institutions because
> of Kurzweil's
> critically acclaimed sound library, extraordinary functionality, and
> industry-leading technology. In addition, Kurzweil Digital
> Home Products
> offer consumers the same world-renowned Kurzweil sound quality as the
> professional products, plus handcrafted cabinets and
> top-quality built-in
> audio systems."
>
> Notice that there is no mention of 'using their many years
> experience with
> acoustic pianos' or such -- because they don't have such
> expertise. Ray
> Kurzweil is an electronic/acoustic engineer who developed an
> expertise in
> digital recording and simulation while working on his text-to-speech
> converter for the blind.
>
> Also from the site:
>
> "Young Chang was the first musical instrument manufacturer in
> Korea, and
> has now been producing high-quality musical instruments for over 35
> years. Today, Young Chang is one of the largest
> manufacturers of acoustic
> pianos in the world, and also manufactures a range of other
> instruments
> under various brand names.
>
> "The original piano assembly factory was opened in 1956, and started
> manufacturing pianos, organs and harmonicas in mid-1968.
> Later, the company
> went on to make guitars. By 1971 the company was beginning to
> export its
> products successfully, and Young Chang opened a second
> factory in Incheon,
> Korea, in 1976."
>
> Young Chang made a name by building a line of not-so-cheap
> knockoffs of the
> Yamaha grands, including the flashy paint jobs. (Early 80's
> models were a
> bit low on quality, but the last one I looked at seemed to be
> a first-rate
> instrument.) I don't know if Young Chang ever marketed one
> of their pianos
> under the Kurzweil name.
>
> Regards,
>
> -BW
>
> --
> Bruce Wahler
> Design Consultant
> Ashby Solutions™
> www.ashbysolutions.com
> CloneWheel Support Group moderator
> 978.386.7389 voice
> 978.964.0547 fax
> bruce@ashbysolutions.com
>
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