Not only did the Kurzweil name survive intact - albeit as "a product line of Young Chang America Inc" - but the South Korean company established the Young Chang Research & Development Institute in Waltham MA, USA (Kurzweil's old home) for the design and development of further Kurzweil products, and put in place there a 14-strong R&D team consisting mainly of people who had been with Kurzweil from the beginning.Īs a result of the change of ownership, UK distribution of Kurzweil products has passed to Acrobat Music, who, as well as being existing distributors of Young Chang's Fenix range of guitars, are also a sister company of The Piano Warehouse, who have been distributing the Korean company's acoustic pianos for the past ten years. However, unlike Yamaha, Young Chang didn't let a much-valued name go to the wall, nor a valuable design team slip through their corporate fingers.
It seemed as if the Sequential/Yamaha scenario was playing itself out again. In April 1990 they filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the Kurzweil name, technology, and distribution and business rights were bought by South Korean piano manufacturers Young Chang Akki. While E-mu enjoyed success with the Proteus, Kurzweil struggled financially, and started discussions to find a suitable buyer for the company. In fact, Kurzweil had pioneered the concept of the sample replay module in 1987 with their 1000 Series expanders, but typically they were neither "downmarket" nor "affordable" and failed to capture the wider instrument-buying public's imagination. Instead they remained aloof, and it was left to another American company, E-mu Systems, to show how it should be done when they moved downmarket in 1989 with the £899 rackmount Proteus/1 sample replay unit. Partly because the company's sample-based instruments oozed quality and class, partly because the company never attempted to cater for the budget end of the market, the Kurzweil name came to signify prestige and exclusivity.īut with the storm clouds of economic recession gathering in the late-'80s, the company should have been capitalising on their greatest asset - their samples, by diversifying downmarket with an affordable sample replay module. During the '80S, Kurzweil built a reputation for themselves as purveyors of professional instruments to professional musicians at professional prices.
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