So I had a PA80 way back when. I made custom sound performances for it. Years ago on the Irish Acts website, I shared some custom sets with home made styles that included these performances. I've seen the same performances, with the same names and parameters exactly as I wrote them, integrated into the PA series that followed, including the PA800 and 3x. I KNOW I'm not getting compensated, it was tongue in cheek, but in a way it's a bit strange, yet in another way kind of cool that their designers would incorporate them into newer models with the same names I used exactly as I structured them. What do you think ?

Call your lawyer.....are these copyrighted or patented?

good luck

Neither Donny. They were part of a set I voluntarily shared probably about 10+ yrs ago. They were actually an afterthought because my main intent was to share styles that I made myself and / or converted from data that began in Band In A Box or other boards ( Motif ES patterns ..etc ). They also included already converted styles that were shared by others but needed to be reworked to better fit the sounds of the PA80. When I copied them to disk all of the other work I did was copied as well, including custom voices and performances I made from scratch.

Many styles shared by others had to be reworked manually because they were originally made for Yamaha arrangers. There were differences in sounds, different channels for bass and percussion sounds, and some subtle differences in drum notes. How would I even prove today that I'm the original author? I suppose I'd have a shot because I still retain some of the original midi files I made for the style conversions, but the performances were all done inside a KB I've long since parted with. People upload all kinds of things, but it doesn't necessarily mean it was their work. I'm too old to waste whatever precious time I have left here on Earth in a court case anyway, and I don't need the money. It just struck me as weird that they would do that, and yes because it is included in a product they make money on, when I gave them away freely, on some level I think it's wrong. That said, I'm not really all that bothered.. been through and somehow survived too much else in this life I suppose..

I've also seen "gig disks" out there for sale in the past with my style conversions on them, as well as others that I instantly recognized ( the old SVP world styles for example ), but these were done mainly by individuals in other countries, and not by corporations the size of Korg.

Lesson learned I guess unless you want to further pursue the matter legally somehow.
How many people are out there gigging playing other peoples songs without paying royalties?...
this whole subject opens a big can of worms and it's not pretty. Proprietary styles on future model releases that can only be used on the unit in question could also be a reality soon too because of all this sharing, etc. Good Luck to you.

Thanks Donny. I have no intention of pursuing it. Heck, I'm happy I've lived to see another day. As long as my friends and family are okay, everything beyond that doesn't matter that much any more.

I think for these companies a side benefit of the detail found in today's styles exists that probably makes going any further unnecessary. It's pretty hard to convert the styles of a Genos, PA4x today. The SA voices, the Korg proprietary voices, etc all contain data that allow for the extra sounds / effects that simply didn't exist in older models.

Even from one model to the next of the same manufacturer it isn't so easy to convert. It could potentially take me hours to properly convert even one style from one board to the next so that it sounds even halfway decent. Even making custom voices that work properly out of SA type sounds is more difficult. Back then I was fairly decent at it, but it was a lot easier to do. Not worth the time and effort needed now for most folks to do it I would suspect.