I just found this Site, where they are advertising 5,000
Styles for the KN7000 for 38 Pounds (Thats about 60 US Dollars),
I have collected quite a lot fom a British Company, who advertise on Ebay and sell theirs for 17.99 (about 27 USD) for just 10 Styles.

Has anyone got any experience of these styles, as they sound too cheap to be true !!

Input and opinions appreciated !!!

John

( Nigel: Sorry John I had to remove this link to those pirated styles in case anyone was convinced to buy them. Plus I wouldn't hand over credit card info to people like that, anything could happen ).

The reason they would be able to that it simply because they don't have the right to those styles and are simply selling pirated styles. DO NOT support this by buying them. This is wrong. There is no other reason they would be able to do this. It is undermining the companies that developed those styles.

well done! Nigel

Peter B.

.

Sorry Guys!!

I wasn't aware that they are in fact 'Pirated' styles - But you now have me thinking (and its painful!).

Surely styles can only be 'Pirated' - if it can be proven that any particular style or styles they sell are in fact 'Properly Copyrighted'. I have been in many discussions on other Forums as to so called 'Intellectual Copyright' also the laws and costs of Copyrighting music - particularly Songs, Styles, Mp3's and Midi Files that have been 'openly' available on the many Forums that Members post on.

A 'Blanket' Copyright claim displayed on a forum for its contents is not valid, unless registered and paid for (45 pounds 70 Dollars in UK for each song or specified collection of songs, such as on a DVD). That is why a lot of Forums are 'Locked' to deter theft - but in reality it is impossible to recognise when registering, whether a new member is 'legit', and won't be there to perloin files and pass them to others.

In the final analysis - I don't believe any private individual has ever sued for 'Intellectual Copyright' on such files, therefore the word 'Copyright' when related to posted styles is invalid, and ergo - the claim that they are 'Pirated'.

May I respectfully suggest that for someone new to Technics, and with only a few styles in their collection (you can never have too many !) - The Vendor of these styles has done the job of collecting styles from all the nooks and crannies on Tinternet, and would guess that a good proportion are no longer around!

Can it be proven there are any commecially produced Styles in there - as the major supplier of these styles worldwide (No names, but he eats Strawberries in Rotherham, Yorkshire!), has and is successfully taking theft of his properly copyrighted products to Court.

If I am wrong or misguided in my beliefs, then, as ever - in the light of sensible discussion, I remain to be convinced.

Kindest regards and respects,

John

PS... I wasn't intending to buy any - but thought it was of interest and for discussion!

.

The whole stock of styles that are now sold under the Strawberry label were produced by technics and distributed by the Technote company. Style Disk Warehouse bought this whole stock and the right to distribute them.I still have an original catologue from Technote from when I owned my Kn7000 in 2002 and was a technote club member.

Peter B.

Hi folks,as far as commercial styles,there are specific markers added to the files which are hidden in the hex code. Theses codes are still transfered even when the files are compressed as with KN7000 even when stored on SD. Some of the German software companies place names in the TM. file (voice tone memory) This may be the style writers name in the form of a voice name.others may be hidden in the password function which stops you coping or saving the style even when things have been modified,but without the password you have had it!!!.
Regards John.

I very very much doubt that that this many user created styles exist for the KN7000 in total and the chance of them all being non copyright styles is so miniscule that I would guarantee that most if not all are indeed from commercial style developers. What ends up happening in these sort of cases is that I end up getting contacted by very irrate developers who have found their styles in these collections and ask me to remove the offending link. Unfortunately by the time they become aware of it the damage is already done. If it walks like a duck ....

Even if they were modified Technics styles they are still copyright. Even though Technics users share these types of modified styles amongst themselves selling them is an absolute no no.

Hi Peter - I didn't want to name the company concerned publicly, which is why I made the obvious reference to Strawberries and Rotherham, and not Neil Blake by name.

I was aware of the history, and origin of his disks, as they are all clearly labelled as such.

I wonder, just wonder how it is that a couple of about 20 I have of his discs, all purchased legitimately from him, are clearly 'home made' copies, having the 'Stick on' labels on the 'Tutorial' DVD's rather than the directly printed original commercial disks.

As he seems to be so punctillious in his prosecution of copyright offenders, one can only assume that he somehow has had the copyright of these disks transferred to him, as well as the old stock.

Regards,

John

Hi John.
I think that is right. He will have bought the copywright from Technote.
He is carrying on the business from Technote
regards
peter

I don't understand this. When Technics finally closed, they put all their original styles on the net for anyone to download for FREE?

This happened after Technote sold theirs on to Neil and to be honest, I have several of the old Technote floppies which are original Technics styles (not 'tweaked in anyway as they play exactly the same as those I downloaded from the net) so! as Technics themselves put them out for free and are no longer trading, then surely no one is entitled to sell them on under 'Copyright' - or am I missing something here?

Audrey

Hi Audrey
Copywright in this country is a minefield.
I would have thought that if you had bought them legally from a proper source, then if you no longer need them then you are well within your rights to sell them on.
Personally I refuse to pay £17.99 for a disk when in the original catologue from technote they were from as little as £9.99.from the original Technote range. Especially, with the KN7000, with a little effort you can quite easily make up your own to suit the music you want to play.
It has to remembered as well that 'Technics' and 'Technote' were not one and the same.
This is not to decry the excellent standard of disks which Neil has spent a lot time producing for the Kn range.

Regards
Peter B

I'm sure Neil can explain it all to us if he hasn't already done so previously on this forum...

It's all pretty much explained here...
http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthread..._BLAK#Post70161
Rog

I also obtained styles from the Technics site free of charge, all styles from all their keyboards were free to owners of their Keyboards.If Technote obtained these and sold them to Neil Blake, then they sold something that was freely available to all. How can something provided free, now suddenly become subject to copyright? Somebody needs to check who exactly owns the rights and not run scared every time Neil blake issues threats. I would suggest a letter to Technics old company may clear this up once and for all.

'all styles from all their keyboards were free to owners of their Keyboards'.
Blue Rosey
This is not a true fact. Technics did issue free styles from their website as an expansion of the model, but the disks from Technote were a 'commercial issue' ,for want of a better term, dedicated to a range of registrations etc. the same system applies to the Yamaha range,

Peter B

To add to what Peter has said;

There were free files given away by the company but they were the files from all the previous Kn models. In fact when you bought the book, “Getting the Most from your Kn7000” (I think that was the title) Alex give a CD with his book which encluded all the previous Kn keyboard styles.

My 2 cents, John C.

Am I missing a point here? surely what we are discussing are the files issued by Techics FREE, not files from Tecnote which are copyright. If they were not from Technics where did I get them, certainly not Technote.

All the Styles from the previous range of Technics keyboards (KN2000,3000,5000,6xxx) plus some styles from the KN2400/2600, were originally available on the now defunct Technics website, as free downloads.
When the website closed, I contacted Panasonic and obtained permission to add these styles to my website. They are still available, as a single download in '.sdb' format here : http://www.willumspages.co.uk/page8.html
When downloaded, they can be transferred to an SD Card, using the Panasonic 'Song Manager' program, as described on the web page. The download also includes some new 'World' styles.