Library Organization
Kurzweil Music Systems
Synthesizer manufacturer founded by Ray Kurzweil and Stevie Wonder in 1982, whose K250 was the first instrument to convincingly sample acoustic piano.
Founded in 1982 by Ray Kurzweil, Stevie Wonder, and software developer Bruce Cichowlas, Kurzweil Music Systems grew directly out of Kurzweil’s earlier work on the Kurzweil Reading Machine — Stevie Wonder, an early user of the reading machine, pushed Kurzweil to apply its signal-processing research to music. The company’s first product, the K250, launched at NAMM in 1984 at around $10,000 and was the first instrument to convincingly reproduce acoustic grand piano and other orchestral sounds through digital sampling. Kurzweil sold the company to the Korean piano manufacturer Young Chang in 1990; Young Chang was acquired by Hyundai Development Company in 2006, and the Kurzweil brand continues today making keyboards and digital pianos.