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Are there any?

I don't know, but there sure were some great electro-mechanicals!

US brands, yes "Kurzweil" comes to mind.

I know they do their design and engineering in California but I don't know where they are built.

Contrary to what you'd guess the better DPs are not made in China. Only the low-end stuff is built there. My Yamaha P155 was made in Japan.

Does Rhodes count as "digital"? Maybe not. But there is some digital stuff inside. They are made in California.

From Wiki ... The company was acquired by Young Chang in 1990. Hyundai acquired Young Chang in 2006 and in January 2007 has appointed Raymond Kurzweil as Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurzweil_Music_Systems

Ensoniq was US until Creative took them over.

This subject is near and dear to my heart as I would love to do engineering work for a DP or synth company, but there seem to be no major players here in the US.

OK, I checked further. Manufacturing is in Korea. The company headquarters is still in California but on their web site they are looking to hire a DSP engineer to work at the Young Chang R&D Institute in Waltham Massachusetts.

I guess you'd call them a global company now. Seems to me they have located each part of the company in the best place. Design and marketing is in California where they have good access to the music and entertainment industry, R&D in Massachusetts and manufacturing in Korea.

There are no digital pianos made in the US at this time. Even the Kurzweil pianos are made in Asia.

Wasn't/isn't Peavey an American company? And Alesis? Both made pretty good stage controllers...the Alesis with onboard piano sounds too. The Peavey was a bit of a cult board in its day...not sure but think the action was wooden.

Steve

Get used to it. Pretty much all consumer electronics manufacturing has left the USA. TV's, stereo components, radios, telephones...not to mention motorized stuff like power tools, etc. GE lobbied to have the incandescent bulb outlawed here (then turned around and closed its incandescent bulb factory in Virginia) because it was cheaper to import Chinese CFL's than to pay American workers to make light bulbs.

And with our students coming in somewhere around fifteenth in the world in math and science, it looks doubtful that we'll gain back our manufacturing base.

It seems like the only thing the US makes any more are movies and lawsuits.

It seems like the only thing the US makes any more are movies and lawsuits.

We're good at making weapons, really good.

That reminds me of a drawing I saw in a New Yorker. Three generals are sitting in the War Room and one says, Well, I'm an optimist - I still think peace can be avoided.

http://www.cartoonbank.com/well-im-an-optimist-i-still-think-peace-can-be-avoided/invt/135974/

The US still manufactures more than any other country, it's just certain things that have disappeared.

Thanks for all the info . . . I guess Rhodes is the closest thing.

More than any other country? Come on, take a look at the real statistics...

I don't feel like doing any heavy lifting, but this is a great site for quick statistics ... http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php

Regarding production per capita (although data is mostly more than 7 years old):

#1 Ireland
#2 Switzerland
...
#6 Germany
...
#13 USA
...
...
#64 China

One does not need to know math to make light bulbs or even iPods. No one here would want any of those Chinese factory jobs. It's right up there with the plan to chase out all the Mexican so Americans can pick their own tomatoes and oranges.

Look at Apple. They are now the second largest company in the world (after Exon Mobile based on Stock value.) Almost all of Apples's manufacturing is in China. but almost all of the profit comes back to Apple in California. China is getting the worse end of this deal, by far. You don't want to bring that back to the US.

Actually if you were to be very nationalistic and care only about yourself what you'd do is divide up the work between us and China so that all the engineers, marketing exec, designers and so lived here and all the low-level assembly line jobs where given to China. That would be grossly unfair, but that is what China got. If I could, I'd give them some fast food jobs in exchange for architect jobs too.

What we really need to worry abut is when the rest of the world catches up to our standard of living and then the person in China who builds your iPod wants $55,000 per year with paid leave and retirement. Then what?

That's apples and oranges. Ability in math/science doesn't translate to factory direct labor jobs. We've lost much of the latter, but not yet most of the former.

Not true. I know lots of people who lost their jobs to China. All those people would gladly go back to their old work here.

Wrong again. Crop picking is a no-skill labor job. The jobs we'd really want are the skilled and semi-skilled manufacturing. The two are completely different.

Annual sales are a much better indicator of a company's value. Exxon is big. Wal Mart is big. Apple is not.

Exxon will be around for a long while ... we need energy. Wal Mart will be around for a long while ... we won't soon stop buying consumer goods. But Apple can be toppled by the next big thing. That thing just might be Google.

Wrong again. China is benefiting quite well on the profits from their manufacturing operations.

Yes, we do. Not sure if that's possible. But we do want it. (Maybe you don't. But don't equate your wishes with those of the thousands (millions?) who suffer from job loss.)

Then China will be in the same pickle as we're in. The jobs will move elsewhere. Where will that be? Only time will tell.

Roland is building their HP series in Hillsboro, Oregon (the Rodgers Organ factory).

We still make music here.

When your manufacturing goes somewhere else, it's just a matter of time before all the brainy jobs go with it. Almost nothing goes on here anymore. As rewarding and interesting as it can be, at this point I don't think I'd encourage a young person to get into electrical engineering in the US. Join the banking or insurance skimming classes instead. Utterly fail and have the political structure shower you with money.


You mean that second world status that we're doing our level best to attain?

Oh, awesome. Thanks.