From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Mon Oct 22 17:01:04 2001
Subject:RE: clone spotting

Actually, I addressed it to Dan P -- who was responsible for the quote
below. There are more than 200 members of the list, and several Dans.

At 07:58 P 10/22/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>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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