I disagree. I think we ALL know that it takes years (still does) to make a decent acoustic instrument. And that people DO benefit from re-creating that sound via sampling.

And I knew what you were alluding to in your post re no-one raising the "counter-point".

And who knows MAYBE all the companies that have sampled these keyboards HAVE paid some sort of fee, maybe they bought the instrument. (Although in the case of Yamaha, they actually make the acoustic pianos in the first place )

So does buying the actual instrument give one a licence to then freely sample the sound of that instrument, to distribute or do with as they will?

And if you agree with that, you MUST ergo agree that it is acceptable should one buy a Motif keyboard, for example. Sample the sound it produces and then sell or give away that sampling.

Because I know industry people out here that DO sample acoustic instruments and then use the samples in projects, that they then sell.

Look, there is no clear answer here on this issue. You get the self-righteous, and then you get the pragmatists. Idealists and realists are at opposite ends and usually never meet.

And I would hazard a guess that NO-ONE on this forum has not received some benefit from, or been given, shared software, music, styles, samples, whatever.

So in principle, no-one here is truly qualified to take any high ground moral superiority over anyone else.