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Kurzweil Music Systems is a company that produces electronic musical instruments for professionals and home users. Founded by Ray Kurzweil, a developer of reading machines for the blind, the company made use of many of the technologies originally designed for reading machines and adapted them to musical purposes. They released their first instrument, the K-250, in 1983, and have continued producing new instruments ever. The company was aquired by Young Chang Piano in 1990.
The company's flagship line of synthesizers, the K2x series, began to make real headway with the K2000, which introduced the company's acclaimed VAST (Variable Architecture Synthesis Technology) engine. Throughout the 1990s, updates and upgrades to the K2000 (and eventually its sucessors, the K2500 and K2600) ensured that the K2x series was regarded as one of the most powerful and best-sounding synthesizers/samplers available.
While no-one has ever disputed the quality of Kurzweil's products, their high pricing in a competetive market has restricted Kurzweil from gaining the widespread adoption of competitors such as Korg or Roland. Recent financial problems at Young Chang have also placed question marks over Kurzweil's future.
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