I don't believe I could have been any clearer, but possibly non-English readers are missing the details. I'll spell it out.
No... it is a well established right to be able to make sample sets from acoustic instruments. Sax, strings, pianos, Rhodes (but if you use brand names, you have to sometimes pay the manufacturer a fee - after all, you are leveraging their brand name to sell your samples)
No... I said at no point whatsoever that James does not have the right to sell or distribute for free any sample sets he has created
himself (where on earth could anyone have got THAT point from?). BUT... he does NOT have the right to sample exhaustively a commercial keyboard that itself sampled the sounds in it, at considerable expense and then distribute it, either for free or for commercial gain. He can make his own string library, but if he copies another commercial sample set (which those in ROMplers are, as the cost of the instrument includes the cost of the samples) he is stealing others' work.
I believe that you are either deliberately or unconsciously avoiding the TRUE point I have been trying to get over... Every keyboard manufacturer EXCEPT open keyboards spend a FORTUNE developing their soundsets for them. They DO NOT sample each others' sounds, the piano in a T3 is totally different to the piano in a PA2Xpro, etc.. The saxes, the strings, every last sound (with the possible exception of legacy drum sounds from Roland, which are no longer in production and have passed into the realm of public domain) is developed by each manufacturer themselves. At a VERY high cost.
And now, you think it OK to copy them and give them away for free... (or even worse, sell them).
THAT, and that alone is the point I am trying to get over. Yes, you can do this yourself, for your own uses ONLY (even commercial use on a work for hire MIGHT be a breach of copyright), but you can't distribute it, you can't sell it. You aren't distributing your own work. You are distributing the work that others have done, and NOT given you permission to do.
Try this... write to Yamaha, tell them you intend to clone every sound in a T3, and then you intend to sell it for an open keyboard to use. Or even give it away widely. See if they think that you can do this!
I'm sorry, but you are grasping at straws. Just like the issue with Ketron styles... sure, you WANT them to be copyright free, so you can steal them. But the FACT is, they ARE copyrighted, and you have to have a Ketron product to be able to use them legally. Same deal with samples. They ARE copyrighted. Find out from the manufacturer themselves before you ASSUME that it is OK to steal their stuff...
Where does all this stealing end? Do you think it is OK to use cracked versions of all the VSTi's you intend to use? Or a pirated version of the Ketron or Yamaha style players?
I mean, is there ANY line you are not willing to cross?
[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 06-07-2010).]