PDA

View Full Version : Kurzweil dead? Here's your answer.


Over The Edge
05-20-2004, 09:21 AM
Taken from Sonikmatter:




"Dead? Dead? Are you out of your fuckin mind? Who or what gave you the right to pronounce us dead. And who gave you the right to speak for the engineers. I'm still here, my reps are still here, and yes even engineers at R & D are still here! It seems when there is a transition of this sort, there is always someone who crawls out from under a rock and has an opinion. I don't like the fact that some of these valuable people were let go, but they were.
And as far as what Samick decides to do with the chips, that's their business since they own 46% of Young Chang
Obviously, there are things that I wish were different right now, but what it is, is what it is.
And your information is old, David. This week we had a meeting at YCRDI with our engineers to determine the agenda of development on product. Our priorities may have changed somewhat, but the VA-1 is still in the running. Mara is still the big focus, and will be on schedule as planned. There are other products planned earlier this year, to be released by Korea later this year. Since you seem to know all things, maybe you will elucidate on the timing for release of these products. I would've called you if I would have known how you wanted to pontificate on these matters concerning Kurzweil. And I'm sure that I speak for at least some of the people who are still employed by Samick/YCA/Kurzweil that in spite of what you may proclaim as our demise, this still means more to us than just earning a paycheck.
Concerning the VA-1, when it ships, there will probably be bugs, and we'll fix them. But I had no idea, that you had so much information about shipping and manufacturing in Korea. I'll make sure that Daniel Kwon contacts you with any changes in the schedule,FYI.
So, if read your email correctly, you say that there were problems when Kurzweil was owned by Ray, and then Young Chang, but in spite of that, Kurzweil still produced great products. So what's different, other than we have less engineers? Will we put out less product? The answer is no.....
Another company bought a controlling interest. With this alliance, in the near future, comes additional monies for changes in the product.
When I look in on this forum, I read a lot about how cool VAST is, but we have the wrong programs, or too many people don't understand what VAST is, or a litany of other things that need to be changed on Kurzweils in general.
Maybe it is time to change how we do things. What features to offer, what parts of VAST can be made more marketable to more consumers.
I don't profess to know all the answers, but I do no some of them, and we're all still here. Kurzweil has had a tradition for years of the best sounds and the greatest capabilities to shape those sounds into unmatched excellence. The people at SMC, (Samick America) do not want to lose that tradition, they want to build on it. But it won't and can't be done in it's present state. Profit has to be generated in order to fund R & D.
There are no quick answers or magic pills. For the last three years, everyone has contributed to keeping Kurzweil viable. From closing GC, to firing the engineers back in 2002, to former rumors of Kurzweil-for-sale, to piss-poor management from Korea, and all the other things heaped on us, we've fought hard to keep this going, and I might add, with some sucess.
And I'll be God Damned if I let some little pissant tell me Kurzweil is dead."

Jeff Dunmire
National Sales Mgr.
Kurzweil Pro

Drusillus
05-20-2004, 11:35 AM
Wow, I read that whole post thinking it must be some bottom rung engineer who got pissed off... that was a National Sales Manager? Uhm, professionalism, hello?

Spacehog
05-20-2004, 11:50 AM
Hmmm, yeah, can't say it does exactly much for the professionalism of the company! Makes Sean Wilhelmsen at E-MU seem the consumate professional (and he's not, he had quite a war of words with a number of us on one of the E-MU forums!). It kinda seems unsurprising that Kurz have had a few difficulties with dealers etc, somehow...

Martin

Airspeed
05-20-2004, 03:26 PM
Wow, who let the dogs out? This guy needs to take a customer relations class or something. I can understand why people may think Kurz is dead. I would like to see more support (new programs, tutorials ect.) and more customer contact (more website updates, news ect.). Kurzweil may have great products but IMO they move way to slow to keep the busy music world happy. And I don't care for the Samick/Kurzweil relationship. It's kind of like if Kia Motors owned Ferrari. Comments???

Over The Edge
05-20-2004, 07:08 PM
I know Jeff. He's a sweet guy...really and I think JR would
agree as well. He's truly a Kurz guy and will defend
the company all the way as he is a true believer in his product.
I know it's easy to get hot under the collar if someone attacks you
personally or something or someone close to you.

He truly believes that Kurz is the best out there...period and
can pretty much back it up if you let him...as he is also a top
notch clinician as JR would concur.



FL
www.franklucas.net

Liquid Shadow
05-20-2004, 11:28 PM
That was still very unprofessional of him, no matter how great a clinician he is or how sweet of a guy he is. He could have backed Kurzweil up with a more mature response instead of lowering himself to that level. When you're speaking on behalf of an entire company about something like that, there's a certain line that you just don't cross, but he did for whatever reason.

Fossil Records
05-21-2004, 10:38 AM
It may have been a reply to someone he was more comfortable/buddy-buddy with and was not meant for general circulation.

Over The Edge
05-21-2004, 02:03 PM
From Mike Martin off Harmony Central:



"One last comment from me on this whole thread.

Jeff's post was not a reply to a customer. It was a post to a former employee that was spreading incorrect information (rumors) about the current status of the company. Was he emotional, yes. Was he out of line? Maybe....should have handled it differently...absolutely!

Jeff is a passionate guy, especially when it comes to Kurzweil. Things have indeed been a bit of a roller coaster ride over there for the last few years. The original post could have been easily dismissed, I think he just let the emotions get the best of him. It is very easy to send off an angry email or a reply to a thread in the heat of the moment....I think all of us have done this at one time or another. Its a phenominon that easily happens "electronically" but does not happen in person. Jeff is not one to post on a forums...for that matter he rarely uses email. It unforunate that this thread caught him off guard.

It is very difficult representing a company on these forums. It is difficult not to take things personally when you put your life into music and the development of the incredible instruments that are available these days. It takes a lot of patience and sometimes the best thing to do it to "not reply" to some of the things that are said on these forums.

Hmmmm.....
Silly thing to say as I'm here posting about a company that I don't work for any more. "

Goodnight,


__________________
Mike Martin
Yamaha US

Rexx
05-24-2004, 02:06 PM
Seems David Fox might have been right. :oops:

http://community.sonikmatter.com/cgi-bin/synth/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000869#000010
:cry:

ChrisMcCoy
05-27-2004, 03:19 PM
I was at my local Guitar Center today checking out Tritons and other things, and I asked the sales rep about the new Kurzweil 2661. He told me they no longer carry Kurzweil keyboards because the company is having financial difficulty.

Airspeed
05-27-2004, 03:52 PM
That's interesting. I went to the local Guitar Centre here during their grand opening and they told me that Korg did'nt want Kurz as a competitor at GC. Then i went back a few weeks later and asked a different person why they did'nt carry Kurz and he told me that Kurz was a high end product and GC markets more to the general public, not professionals. So IMHO some GC sales people don't really have a clue about most of the products that they sell. A bunch of wannabes in my opinion.

Rexx
05-27-2004, 03:53 PM
Guitar Center has nothing to say good about products they no longer can sell. (Kurzweil stopped dealing with GC not the other way around)

Lately there is a lot of speculation of Kurzweils future due to layoffs and uncetainty of the newly merged major share holders Samick.

Most guys that sell Kurzweils aren't buying into all the rumours but I'll be a little paranoid until I own a maxed out K2600xs and a KSP8.

ChrisMcCoy
05-28-2004, 02:16 PM
...Then i went back a few weeks later and asked a different person why they did'nt carry Kurz and he told me that Kurz was a high end product and GC markets more to the general public, not professionals. So IMHO some GC sales people don't really have a clue about most of the products that they sell. A bunch of wannabes in my opinion.

I find that humorous that a sales rep at GC would say "GC markets more to the general public, not professionals". In the county I live in, That's about the only place professionals can buy any kind of music gear. GC has basically driven all of the smaller local music stores out of business. I wonder where he thinks the "Pro's" go to get their stuff. LMAO !
:D

Enigma™
05-28-2004, 02:27 PM
the internet ;)

ChrisMcCoy
05-28-2004, 04:04 PM
the internet ;)
You gotta point there.
My favorite music store is actually e-bay !

Rexx
05-28-2004, 05:09 PM
Mine too! :P

A local pawn shop type music store recently went out of business and blamed it on eBay. Partially true but they never had fair prices or good attitudes when dealing with customers.

Speedy Fingers
05-31-2004, 05:19 AM
I asked Academy of Sound (like the best music shop ever!!) why they didn't stock Kurzweil's, when I had phoned them and they said they did!!!He said that it's because they never get in contact or anything to try and promote themselves!!! They said they can, but it would take "convincing".

I think Kurzweil needs a better marketing staff!!

Spacehog
05-31-2004, 12:32 PM
The UK distribution of Kurzweils is (or certainly was) done by the money-grabbing b*****ds that are Turnkey, who are notorious for charging silly prices and not playing fair with other music shops. AoS and indeed Sound Control in Manchester tend to be quite Roland and Yamaha dominated, you may occasionally find a gem (for instance SC has a Kurz KME61 in at the moment) but other than that they'd probably have to special order one in for you. That said, the staff at both stores are very cool and would probably be happy to order one in for you just to look at and decide if you wanted it or not.

Martin