Chris Martirano

Interview by Brian Cowell.

Behind any great company are good people. Products are built and designed which constantly reflect what they put out. Out of the ashes of the original Kurzweil Music Systems that went bankrupt, evolved the career of one of the people that helped forge the new Kurzweil into what it is today. That man is Chris Martirano.

The fruits of his labor have been the foundation of the K2-series of synthesizers. He is one of the people who brought us the K2000, K2500, K2600, PC88, PC2 and the brand new KSP8 effects module.

Sonikmatter nailed this very busy man for a few moments and found out a little about him and the K2-series.

SONIK : What is your job title at Kurzweil and what does it involve?

CHRIS : Director Of Product Development.

My duties include market research, product concept development, establishment of and approval of feature set requirements for both home digital piano division and pro products.

In addition, I assist in marketing material development including advertising technical content, brochure technical content, and after market support (hiring people to do voicing, sequences, samples and CD-ROMs).

I am the principal interface with all media editors and keep in close contact with these editors throughout the product review process, as well as giving input in articles that aren't product specific but rather subject specific. I go to the mags and do a full presentation of the products to the technical editors who do the actual reviews of our products. I interface with many artists, studio engineers, producers, users, as well as with the engineers at R & D to help bring the real world into the engineering world.

I assist sales in formulating sales forecasts and projections for our products. There are duties such as trade show content and demonstrations, and traveling to our dealer network occasionally with our sales reps to gain information, and gathering of information at all trade shows, and from web sites, and from our 'insider network.

Lastly, I assist soundware in creating voicings for the products and selection of the final voicings we deliver in ROM.

SONIK : How did you become involved with Kurzweil, and how long have you been there?

CHRIS : I have been at Kurzweil for 14 years, and started out before that as a salesman for East Coast Music in Danbury, CT. I had sold more K250's than the largest NYC dealer and was commissioned to take over a District Sales Manager job in December of 1986. I was promoted to Regional Sales Manager in 1989 and after Young Chang bought KMS, was again promoted to Director Of Product Development.

SONIK : Can you tell us who your team consists of?

CHRIS : Well this question implies their are limited groups at R & D who play key roles but I sincerely want everyone to know how much of a total team effort is involved in the creation of all 'K' products. If I have to name names, then I will undoubtedly leave someone out and I don't want to do that!

Of course there are principal players such as...

Chief Scientist : Bob Chidlaw
Chief DSP Engineer : Bob Chidlaw
Senior DSP Engineer : Chris Perkins
Chief Engine Designer : Ralph Muha
Chief Hardware Engineer : Tim Thompson
Chief Soundware Engineer : Joe Ierardi
Chief Software Engineer : Rick Cohen
Chief VLSI Engineer : Chip Natarajen
Chief Mechanical Designers : Steve Lee, Dave Morrell
Chief UI Software Designers : John Teele
Senior UI Software Designer : Steve Pavao

Of course, all the hardware, software, DSPware, soundware, and QA engineers and all the techs which are the real salt of the instruments!

Our products really do reflect the efforts of all of our people, as well as our end users.

I actually work for Young Chang America on the marketing side and am privileged to work with Mike Papa our VP of Sales and Marketing, an industry veteran from the old Oberheim days. Mike knows EVERYONE, and has provided the fuel that powers our sales. Our District Sales managers are the best in the business. Jeff Allen takes care of the advertising, promo materials, show organization, and so much more. Cory Callies provides the company with accurate information and data that is necessary to keep things going. The 'public face' of the company is held together by our National Service Manager, Tom Dunn who has been known to walk on glass and hot coals for our customers! Our Tech support team: including David Fox, Jean Bellefeuille and Larry Hopkins are unrivalled in their knowledge of Kurzweil products, and many of the related products and applications relating to our systems. They all share an earnest desire to help those end users learning and using our systems.

SONIK : What sounds have you programmed for the K2000/2500/2600?

CHRIS : I've programmed many sounds in the k2K, K25, and K26, Some of the most recognized would be:

Ed. Note: See list on sidebar.

I contributed very minimally to the voicing in the PC88 and PC2 series. Geoff Gee did much of the PC88 programming, and Jeff Williams led the PC2 effort with much work from Juni Kobayashi, Jeff Allison, John Hurtado, John Richmond, Steve Aiello, Joe Ierardi, and the whole Kurzweil voicing team.

SONIK : Do you think VAST is now better understood than when the K2000 came out?

CHRIS : I think people like Dan Fisher, Mike Martin, Steve Aiello and Brian Cowell along with the 'K' community have taken V.A.S.T. to places we couldn't have imagined 10 years ago.

I know I find things I can do everyday, which are un-documented and very cool like wave sequencing, or writing your own DSP block (this is a well kept secret), or the many mysteries of Live Mode.

I think the K2000 users group has done a lot to raise the awareness of V.A.S.T. in the community of keyboardists. I also want to credit our resident artist Jordan Rudess who needs no introduction. What he does with one instrument and his creative genius is truly amazing.

Also, our in house gurus like Steve Aiello (already mentioned) have taken KDFX, Live Mode and the Arpeggiator to new levels of exploration.

SONIK : Did Kurzweil plan on supporting the K2000 for so long?

CHRIS : I would have to say that we had at least a 3-5 year plan. But 10 years? No way. How can anything with a plug on it actively sell for 10 years?

The sample option took longer than expected because we kept adding features like reading foreign formats, offering a wide assortment of sample DSP processing, and all the disk and object management stuff (thanks software for the most flexible system of object management offer in any stand-alone keyboard system). We really needed to change from a bank oriented system (in the early OSs, users could only load banks, not single programs or single samples etc.) to an object oriented system (users could load or save any objects).

The ROM options were a bit slow in coming because we were creating very musical programs and setups with tons of controllers assigned to allow for more musical nuance and depth in the programs. As the K2500 series and K2600 series evolved, our software gurus kept porting features backwards to the K2000 series, as much as the engine EPROMs could hold.

The last rev. shipped added ISO9660 support for creating CD ROMS in the native PC format.

Earlier versions of software added 8 drum channels (as was found in the K2500) and quieter Digitech effects; many other K25/26 features were ported backwards as well. Our care and support for our 'older' end users has earned Kurzweil a tremendous reputation. Users have also kept their machines longer as their features and libraries continued to expand.

SONIK : What were the original plans for the K2000?

CHRIS : Originally, the K2000 wasn't going to sample. It was going to use an Alesis Mini-Verb chip (or the equivalent) with 32 'preset' effect presets. The user would've been able to select one effect, and then set wet/dry global level. It was to have a 20 X 2 backlit display and no floppy drive. Boy, what fun meetings we had expanding the envelope!

I was employed by Young Chang as Director of Product Development immediately after Young Chang had purchased Kurzweil out of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy situation in 1990.(I had previously been a Regional Sales Manager for KMS.)

As soon as my job role changed to product development, I began meeting with the brilliant engineers at R & D in Waltham, MA. The R & D group was very wary of tackling another high end product line as many-attributed Kurzweil's recent Chapter 11 to be the direct result of the company's inability to compete in the lower priced, 'entry level' markets.

After just a very short time, we bonded smoothly and agreed to follow up the excellence of the former K250 design in a more powerful, expandable, and portable package; the K2000 was obviously a lot cheaper than the K250 as well.

SONIK : Can you tell us about the "legendary" missing FM Algorithms?

CHRIS : Yes, the K2000 had FM and it sounded very good.

I wrote a letter to Yamaha Intellectual properties Division at that time, (addressed to their intellectual property manager in Japan) requesting the use of FM in the K2000. It's no secret Yamaha had tied up the Stanford FM patent and 'controlled' the rights to who could use FM synthesis.

Well, no doubt we'd have been sued if we'd not done things 'properly', so I wrote and asked for permission. As you can expect we were denied, and our request rejected.

This led to some heart wrenching agony....., we had to remove the FM algs.

Andrew Schlesinger (one of our primary outside voicing engineers), had created some amazing patches which are only memories now.

SONIK : Were you surprised that the K2000 took off the way it did?

CHRIS : Took off? It kind of trickled out.

The fact of the matter is that when we designed the K2000 there were many 'unknowns' that we wanted in the product like: 64 MB of RAM (no one offered this amount of RAM in a sampler or computer at the time), add on user sampling (The K250 had this option as well), digital I/O (not just O), and the ability to add an internal HD.

The design was aggressive, as it was our first real comeback product after the sale of Kurzweil Music to Young Chang.

The real story is that the K2000 had some very serious quality problems when it first shipped. Manufacturing the K2000 as the first electronic instrument was a tall order for the 'new to electronics' Korean piano manufacturer. Some of the problems included the floppy drives collapsing into the unit's enclosure, the infamous bubbling front panel labels, and generally flaky cold solder joint problems. Young Chang addressed these problems in the first 6 months.

Actually there were many sleepless nights with many of the soundware people working over 72 hours straight, many weeks on end to voice the beast. We were also a bit new to V.A.S.T. ourselves. Although we had been programming sounds during the software development, we really had very little experience with the completed product and not that much time to dream of what could be.

The K2000 had been advertised for over 8 months prior to the first shipments, which built up tremendous expectations and frankly, the voicing didn't live up to the hype so we faced an uphill battle. We agreed to re-voice the instrument, which we did about 1 year after the first shipments and sales really took off.

This life long sales curve for K2000 series instruments is unlike any I've ever seen.

They started out selling rather slowly due to the weak voicing and poor quality. The Yamaha SY-77 was getting some attention also at the time. The k2000 sold a lot more volume the second year in production and increased to selling the most volume 5 years into its' life! Of course, we had now introduced the K2000R/RS, and K2VX, and K2VP models. Most electronic keyboard instrument sales drop off dramatically after 24-36 months, tops, and then are steeply discontinued, and discontinued, and no longer supported.

The K2000 did exactly the opposite. When we introduced the K2000RS, it way outsold the keyboard, which isn't normally the case; racks generally sell less volume then their keyboard counterparts.

The K2K series has been selling for almost 10 years and breaks all records for longevity in manufacturing and sales. The V.A.S.T. engine is still the industry leader as is the sentiment expressed to me personally by some very well known magazine technical editors. We're still winning awards for the V.A.S.T. engine (2000 TEC awards for the K2600XS, and 2000 Editor's Choice Award from Electronic Musician magazine for the K2600XS.

SONIK : Do you ever have features appear by "accident"?

CHRIS : I wouldn't call them accidents. We are always thinking, “what if we ....".

This kind of exploratory attitude has led us to some amazing breakthroughs. KDFX is an example of this kind of approach of thinking.

Many of the effect algorithms went through several iterations before we agreed on parameters, placement, and signal flow issues. Some effects were experiments and we kept what we liked. I'm sure a few accidents led us to some features but I can't recall any. I can't recall any accident that we left in and deemed a new feature.

SONIK : Do you look at what "users" are asking for in reference to features?

CHRIS : Of course we monitor as many newsgroups as possible.

Lot's of the users wish for the same new features as many of us at Kurzweil. Most of our engineers are also users and therefore want to know how people are using all the stuff they develop.

For the most part, our users want the same kinds of new features as we do at R & D, and for the most part, we're all in sync. It becomes a juggling act between giving the older machines more features and functions, while trying to continue to develop newer machines

SONIK : What would our readers have to do to get a particular feature implemented into the K2500 and K2600?

CHRIS : $$. Pay us BIG bucks and we'll do it. Seriously, we're always juggling the future with the past.

Do we add on, or create anew? It really comes down to passion vs. dollars.

When we can offer new features which exist on the path towards new designs, then we can serve our existing designs and customers while not prolonging our future designs.

If the newly requested features require a lot of effort, or revising a significant portion of the existing design, then it must be weighed care-fully against the estimated consumer cost, and any possible delays which would impact future designs, and lengthen our time to market for new designs. Revenues are important to any company wishing to survive.

SONIK : Can you tell us what the two K2600 ROM blocks are for?

CHRIS : This question has been nicely snuck in here..... There are, of course, two additional ROM slots on the K2600.

These will be filled with cool stuff I assure you. I can only hint here that the first new block will take one of the instruments Kurzweil first captured, to a whole new level of excellence. I'll leave it at that. Ok I'll add it will offer the triple level recorded piano found in the new PC2 series. It sounds amazing in the K26 to be sure.

SONIK : Do you think Kurzweil will ever put names on their instruments?

CHRIS : If we could publish the list of proposed names we've entertained over the last 5 years for many of our products, we're sure most of the readers would want to be sick, or at the very least, have a good hard laugh!

I don't know how any of us named our children as we've mostly come up with truly lame names proposed for our products. We often get such silly suggestions from our group that we just abandon the idea of a name. I am not particularly creative in that area to be sure.

SONIK : What keeps you working at Kurzweil ? Surely you've had many offers elsewhere?

CHRIS : This is the easiest question yet. I LOVE the people AND the technology.

I have had many offers and I also know most of our competition very well. It really is a small community that we work in. I have been in this business for over 15 years and know just about everyone.

I've often said that I would consider working outside this industry if I were to ever leave Kurzweil. As I can't imagine working with a better group of people. I may live to eat these words someday!

It's very frustrating working for an international company where all kinds of barriers prevent us from reaching our full potential, but things are constantly improving; our potential at Kurzweil is truly unlimited.

SONIK : What sort of equipment do you have in your home studio, Chris?

CHRIS : I have a good collection of 'instruments' such as:

Oberheim Matrix 12 (with 12 outs)
Yamaha CS-80
Sequential Prophet 2000Plus/2002Plus
Yamaha TX802s
Roland Super Jupiter
Studio Electronics rack mount
MIDImoog
Hammond M3 with Leslie model 145
The full line up of Kurzweils (K250, K250RMX, 1000 series modules, K2600XS, PC2X etc.).

I've got a great collection of mics (Neumann U87, AKG 414S, Sennheiser 421, EV RE21 etc.) and analog outboard signal processors (EQ's , Gates, Compressors, Reverbs etc.)

I use MOTU's Digital Performer 2.7 and a Mac G3 laptop (500mHz) for all other music production chores.

Soundware at R & D all use Genelec 1031A monitors, and so do I.

I also own an older, and sadly aging Steinway model L Grand Piano which resides in my house (not my studio)!

SONIK : Have you ever heard a song/tune in the media and thought, "that was done on a Kurzweil"?

CHRIS : Yes, in fact, many times I hear our piano on commercials, or our Orchestral ROM on kid's TV shows like Rugrats etc.

We have worked closely with film score composers such as Michael Kaman, and Fred Mullin among many others who use our instruments in their soundtracks often supplementing the real orchestra. It is very satisfying seeing so many Kurzweils on so many religious broadcasts as well.

As a Christian, and a musician, I feel very good about the fact that our instruments are being widely used to win souls for Christ. It is also a thrill to see Elton John playing the PC2X on the 2000 Grammy awards show!

SONIK : Do you get a chance to make any music of your own?

CHRIS : I have done a fair amount of writing and recording in the past.

My group Voices released their debut album (yes, vinyl) in 1987 on Atlantic Records (we were signed by Doug Morris at Atlantic). We toured a bit for the Special Olympics to raise money for handicapped athletes. I recorded on several Gospel albums, and did some programming for some artists (no name dropping here). I have a lot of fun playing with various musicians at the NAMM shows and have had the privilege of playing with Jon Anderson, Jordan Rudess and Rod Morgenstein to name a few.

Lately I have been restoring early family recordings of piano recitals and the many band tunes that never made it out to the fans we never had which will be distributed to my family in the form of an aural family album (CD).

SONIK : Who have been your musical influences?

CHRIS : These are pretty much the usual giants: Patrick Moraz, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Peter Gabriel, Tangerine Dream, Art of Noise, Kieth Jarrett, Chick Corea, John McGlaughlin, Sal Martirano, Bud Powell, Art Tatum, Monk, Miles, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinski, Mussorsky, Verdi, Puccini.

SONIK : Which are 10 of your favourite CDs?

CHRIS :

1. Tomita's Firebird Suite
2. Emerson, Lake & Palmer (any of them prior to Powell)
3. Yes's Close To The Edge, or Tales From Topographic Oceans
4. Thick As A Brick - Jethro Tull
5. The Three Tenors - (the first of the 3 CD titles released)
6. Bartok' String Quartets - Bartok'
7. Afternoon Of A Fawn - DeBussy
8. Prelude Pour l'infant Defunt - Ravel
9. US - Peter Gabriel
10. Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd

SONIK : What interests do you have outside of music?

CHRIS : I have three sons, Jeff (16), Stephen (14), and Christian (11).

I have no choice but to take interest in sports and staying active. I coach Christian's soccer team and LOVE soccer. I have coached mostly as an assistant for the last 10 years.

I am also very into basketball and have been a disappointed NY Knicks fan for over 10 years! I personally don't play b-ball too well though, odd for a former New Yorker.

I enjoy water sports. Also, due to some prodding from my kids, now enjoy snow skiing as well. I play a little bit of tennis but really enjoy watching the sport.

Roller-blading is new to me, but I am getting the hang of it.

There is little time left over after Kurzweil work to do too much.

My sons all play instruments (guitar, piano, and trumpet) and our house is filled with constant 'noise', but pleasing noise to a musician and parent.

SONIK : Finally, what is your view on the "hardware vs software" debate?

CHRIS : IMHO, the trend is clearly moving inside the computer. But, I feel the performance aspects of computer-based synthesis and the virtual complete studio, have a long way to go.

Playing back 128 voices while bending pitch up 5 octaves, and adding some filter sweeps with real-time modulations (LFOs, Mono-Pressure etc.) and tons of effects is quite the load on even the fastest CPUs. Add to that digital mixing, HD recording, and plug ins and the latency is still unbearable.

While I have a lot of respect for products such as software samplers, synths, and rhythm modules, I still think custom silicon, running on a dedicated CPU with the 'right' compliment of controllers has advantages over interfacing third party hardware to control your computer software. Now if we're talking about computer displays vs. stand-alone hardware displays (found on most synths), and clear and intuitive UI designs, well, the computer wins hands down. But let me re-state clearly, I'm no real fan of virtual controllers (i.e. moving 'virtual volume sliders' displayed on the screen with a mouse, or, turning 'virtual knobs' with a mouse).

Sonikmatter, February 2001.