Hi Diki.



I haven't really bothered because I've had this discussion on KORG Forums for 10 years. I've also seen this discussed on every other forum and the end result is always the same.

Look... I'll roll all this into one and answer every question at the same time.

I cannot copyright my sounds. I can only copyright my work. When you buy a copy of one of my sample libraries you are buying the right to download a copy of my work for your personal use and to use it royalty free in your work. This means you get all my hard work in a state that requires no effort on your behalf to use, and you can use that material to write music with without any fear of having to pay me royalties.

However.... If you create a copy of my sample library and sell it, then yes you have just broken the law because you have just created a copy of my finished product, and my work. To create this copy you did not have to sample it or use any special tools. You copied my data in whole and therefore you are now in possession of two identical copies.

Now lets apply some of this to a keyboard so you can see the difference between the ability to copyright, steal and create copies of it and so on....

1: Lets say you buy a KORG Pa2X. You cannot create a copy of a keyboard because it's a physical object and therefore cannot be stolen and resold as a copy.

2: You cannot copyright the sound it produces for all the same reason KORG would have been allowed to sample the instruments they did to create the PCM data in the first place.

3:However, KORG can copyright their work and this is the only thing you guys should be trying to break down and discuss. This is where the argument comes in and the questions of what you can and cannot do.

Here are some ways I could break the law by creating a copy of KORG's work.

It would be illegal for me to create a computer program that converts a KORG PCG file from one format to another as this file gives me direct access to KORG's work in such a way that I can steal it.

It would be illegal for me to take a factory sound and to strip back the sound engine in order to sample the raw PCM data unprocessed by the engine. This is illegal because now I'm sampling KORG's work. Again, the sound is not copyrighted, it's their work that being copied only in this case.

So now lets flip that last one around and make good of it. If I take a KORG and use the data within the keyboard and the sound engine to modify that data (someone elses recordings), then it's new work and my property to sample and sell. That's why I posted the link to Spectrasonic above. You can see all the keyboards they sampled. Many of which are even PCM based so spectrasonic have taken someone else's recordings and used the keyboard to shape them into recording they claimed as their own.

This is done the world over and exactly how all PCM based libraries and keyboards are made.

I'll leave it at that. There's much to discuss on all this but you must focus on the only issue that matters which is the ability for one to copyright their work.

Regards
James