Young Chang bankrupt

[Over The Edge]

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200409/22/200409220008491779900090509051.html


What happens to Kurzweil now?




FL
www.franklucas.net

[Rudess]

Quickly- sell all your kurzweils!!

JR

I'm kiddding...

Hey- it is a sad thing. I have no idea what will happen now.
I wish my friends who are still there all the best!
I had MANY MANY great musical events with the Kurzweil instruments and
will never forget it.

[WoofWoofX]

Jesus O'mighty,

BTW that was expected since the thing is dated way back:

>Snip<
In a message dated 10/31/98 6:03:12 PM Central Standard Time,
ANDYKOZ@prodigy.net writes:

<< Has anyone heard that Young Chang filed for bankruptcy? >>
I haven't heard that yet... But it wouldn't suprise me in the least.

Jonathan Hoover
>Snip<

So what I think ...If liquidated....Kurz for everyone free of charge.....no support... no updates.... your K26xx will be 5 times more expensive then it should be... since it will be a collectable item :lol:

On the otherhand... they should start thinking like Korg and Yamaha... in terms of marketing, more affordable releases with small order ammounts on the production line.

and if restructured ...Good luck for all the employees who made it out (that includes Jorda :wink: ) and Hard luck for the rest.

WoofWoofX

[merijn]

Yep, I read it. Sad story. Indeed, what will become of kurzweil. Good that Jordan R. replied. He had some wild adventures using Kurzweil.

[WoofWoofX]

BTW got this reply on the Kurzlist and I don't know how true it is :


In a surprising turn of events, Aston Martin, the Britsh prestige car
manufacturer best known for its DB9 and Vanquish cars, featured
in James Bond films, have volunteered a rescue package to Samick,
in an attempt to save the Kurzweil brand from extinction.

An official for Aston Martin said, "We feel that this is an exclusive
and leading brand product, similar in its market to our own range of
performace cars - and therefore we will be able to work with Kurzweil
to keep the brand alive".

Quoted from "Fortean Micrographical Review"
October 2004 Edition


Read about it:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/KurzList/message/16876

[merijn]

Interesting! :shock:

[Zaki]

the future of the kurz is between the hands of the devil now

[Over The Edge]

Hey everyone, let's pool all our money together and
buy Kurzweil. Then we could hire all the old R & D guys
back and develop the next line of synths.

All of this will be managed of course by Mike Martin. :D




FL
www.franklucas.net

[Tigerfolly]

Hey everyone, let's pool all our money together and
buy Kurzweil. Then we could hire all the old R & D guys
back and develop the next line of synths.

All of this will be managed of course by Mike Martin. :D




FL
www.franklucas.net

I wonder if Kurzweil knows how much support they truly have from this corner of the keyboard community. I know we're not like a huge chunk of the market or anything, but still.. it might be nice for them to know how much we all think of the brand and how much we try and support it, ya know?

-TF

[Tusker]

That Aston Martin thing is a gag. Aston is owned by Ford. I remember driving past the Ford headquarters building in Dearborn all the time, and the executive car park was full of Lincolns. Then they bought Aston, and suddenly it was full of Astons. :)

Jerry

[Georges]

400 000 USD debt ain't the end of the world but sufficient if no cash available to pay at any moment. Anyways, I think it has to be considered as an opportunity for a new start. YC failed to restructure when it bought Kurzweil, now with the pressure of a bank behind it, given that a well thought business plan will be put into place, there is most definately a future for YC. In any case, I am quite sure that there will definately be a future for the Kurzweil brand. Remember that Waldorf and Alesis are back again, those are brands which work - it needs some good management and some financial resources.

[John]

400,000 USD is what they defaulted on (didn't pay on time). They have approx 93,000,000 (93 million) USD in debt. It sounds like the company is way up-side down (liabitilites much greater than their assets).

It sounds like they haven't been practicing very good business. I think all the executives knew it was going under and tried to get what they could before the business imploded.

I would think that someone would take over.

- John O.

[ChrisMcCoy]

Look on the bright side,
at least you're not owning a synclavier and finding out NED are belly up ! That's already happened years ago. and the price for one of those was what, $100,000+ ??? :twisted:

[synthz]

Does YoungChang associated with Samick???

I've always known Samick as low-quality guitar manufacturer, i don't know about their other products, but nobody would buy Samick guitars where i come from. It's a bit confusing imagining high profile Kurzweil with low-profile Samick sitting side-by-side together.

I'm also confused with Kurzweil brand, it's obviously a German/European name and customers would assume it's German's technology that's impanted in the keyboard. When you suddenly hear Asian/Chinese name behind it, the brand credibility automatically gets lowered and associated with countries like Taiwan or China whose really into manufacturing, however notorious for low-quality a.k.a Quality Assurance is a non-existent.

[Georges]

When you suddenly hear Asian/Chinese name behind it, the brand credibility automatically gets lowered and associated with countries like Taiwan or China whose really into manufacturing, however notorious for low-quality a.k.a Quality Assurance is a non-existent.

Asian = Chinese ????? There is far more behind Asia than your banal cliché about China. If we are speaking about Far East Asia, there is Japan for one, then we have Korea, Taiwan, Singapoure, etc; all famous for their technology achievements. Most electronic devices you use in your daily life (IT, music, photo, etc.) are from Asia. Does Roland, Yamaha, or Korg sound more European to you ? Then sorry to disappoint you that they are "only" Asian, I guess that's why their quality is so "low", damn I hate my low-quality Kurzweil K2600r. :roll: Maybe Waldorf should buy Kurzweil, oh, damn, forgot, Waldorf went bust once too, a fully German brand went bust ? hmmm, maybe you should re-consider your brand association theory - doesn't work for electronical devices. The good quality thing in Europe and America is mostly propaganda.

Let's take car industry: Toyota is leading the quality against price ratio in its categories, which are mostly in the mid-segment.

Finally, Ray Kurzweil was certainly not German. That the American people have roots in Europe (therefore their familiar names) is well-known I guess...

[Kurzweilfreak]

The amount of ignorance and know-it-alls in one place here is astounding. :roll:

[Awake]

Does YoungChang associated with Samick???

I've always known Samick as low-quality guitar manufacturer, i don't know about their other products, but nobody would buy Samick guitars where i come from. It's a bit confusing imagining high profile Kurzweil with low-profile Samick sitting side-by-side together.I own a Samick bass, and it's probably the nicest bass I've ever owned. Was it cheap? Yes, it was under $200, but it's comfy, rock-solid reliable, and even the out-of-the-box sound and setup was nice. I would absolutely reccomend and buy another Samick bass.

[Kurzweilfreak]

Samick is the world's largest guitar manufacturer, and they make much more stuff than just what you see the name "Samick" on.... :roll:

[Tusker]

The Japanese manufacturers proved themselves with their superior quality in a number of industries. Korean manufacturers have had considerable variability in quality. China too, is quite variable in quality.

I think generalizations about national origin are potentially dangerous, yet I also know that capabilities often have cluster geographically.

Sometimes the capabilities can be planted in a less developed millieu. For example Japanse companies have off-shored manufacturing to Malaysis/Thailand, just as US European companies have. The quality of these plants are often comparable to "home country" plants, suggesting that capabilites are transferable across nations.

So a consumer consumer asks specific questions about the quality history of the products they wish to buy. Buyers of Kurzweil synths have often been careful, informed consumers.

Jerry

[Peter_Stone]

I think that Jordan should buy Young Chang!

I heard that a long time ago, Dave Mustaine wanted to buy Jackson guitars when they fell down, but was out bidded by Fender...

Young Chang/Rudess inc.?

Juuust a thought!
Peter.

[synthz]

When you suddenly hear Asian/Chinese name behind it, the brand credibility automatically gets lowered and associated with countries like Taiwan or China whose really into manufacturing, however notorious for low-quality a.k.a Quality Assurance is a non-existent.

Asian = Chinese ????? There is far more behind Asia than your banal cliché about China. If we are speaking about Far East Asia, there is Japan for one, then we have Korea, Taiwan, Singapoure, etc; all famous for their technology achievements. Most electronic devices you use in your daily life (IT, music, photo, etc.) are from Asia. Does Roland, Yamaha, or Korg sound more European to you ? Then sorry to disappoint you that they are "only" Asian, I guess that's why their quality is so "low", damn I hate my low-quality Kurzweil K2600r. :roll: Maybe Waldorf should buy Kurzweil, oh, damn, forgot, Waldorf went bust once too, a fully German brand went bust ? hmmm, maybe you should re-consider your brand association theory - doesn't work for electronical devices. The good quality thing in Europe and America is mostly propaganda.

Let's take car industry: Toyota is leading the quality against price ratio in its categories, which are mostly in the mid-segment.

Finally, Ray Kurzweil was certainly not German. That the American people have roots in Europe (therefore their familiar names) is well-known I guess...

I was talking about the word "CHANG".... is it Japanese? Absolutely not... I totally agree that Japan is far superior in electronic manufacturing, compared to Korea & Taiwan, and i wouldn't doubt the quality. Why did i think China? Cause Chang is a Chinese name... and I still believe that quality is no. 3 or 4 in the list there... Roland & Yamaha sounds Japanese to me, Korg.. there's a bit of 50/50 between Japanese or German name there (it's gotta do with the 'org')

Maybe i shouldn't say "Asian".. i'd just say China then for your sake.

I'm also clarifying that i wasn't bashing Kurzweil since a lot of the replies are implying so... (But i always prefer Korg than Kurz)