PAT MORAZ on RAY KURZWEIL

[pablomastodon]

I had the opportunity to attend an evening session at Winter NAMM 2015 at which Ray Kurzweil was scheduled to speak, and Pat Moraz was tasked with introducing Ray (after some mind-blowing playing and also a really great set from SHEL). Pat is not a man of few words, but as he closed his intro he summed it all up very nicely with just a few:

YOU MADE MY LIFE BETTER!

It was a beautiful moment, and as "unfond" as I am of Kurzweil complexity, I can certainly agree that Ray has made the lives of many better. The same can certainly be said of several people in the synth business over the years: Bob Moog, Dave Smith, Tom Oberheim are prominent names. Some names are less well-known. Hal Chamberlin literally wrote the book. Ray was charitable in accepting the accolade and generous in sharing it with his crew, no doubt justifiably.

No less can be said for Hans Nordelius and the entire Stockholm crew, occasionally seen posing alongside their new releases. When you're buying an expensive toy/tool which has been shipped halfway around the world to get to you, the cardboard box sort of acts as an impersonal barrier between you and the people at the other end who made it. The whole operation is only slightly more than two dozen people. And they have certainly made my life better.

How about you?

Bless,

Pablo

[Frantz]

I probably would not be playing keyboard today if they did not make the Nords ( genius user interface , real instrument feeling ), so yes, it's a matter of person relationship changing others way of life

[analogika]

I would like to thank Laurens Hammond, Harold Rhodes, Robert Moog, the Clavia Team, the Yamaha guys, the Emagic/Apple team in Rellingen and the team responsible for MainStage in Cupertino...Volvo, Apple...gosh.

So many people whose net effect has been to improve my life and/or even make it possible in this form...

[neolithic]

+1 for the Clavia team. It's incredible what they've acheived and the influence they have had on the market with such a small team.
We should also shout out to Tim Berners-Lee who has indirectly made it possible for us to gather in this virtual space and share so many great answers, patches, experiences etc... (and occasionally belittle each other's opinions )
(Couldn't find the emoticon for 'tongue in cheek' !)
ps. Let's not forget Turing, Edison, Faraday...

[pablomastodon]

Tesla...