virus legalities question..
 

hey...
not sure about this.....pls help

is it ok to upload Wav files of some of the virus presets after messing with them a bit (filter sweeps etc) to free sample and loop sites?

is it legal to use any of the virus sounds (presets and custom made) commercially or to upload to the internet for free or to sell ?

i know that buying a virus means that i can use it in my own music comercially ...are there any restrictions or anything that i should be aware of?


thanks

Of course, you're absolutely fine.

Which format? As audio, or as actual Virus patches (in MID format data)?

As audio, you're completely free to sample patches. It would be cheeky to just sample other people's presets and sell them, though. A grey area.

As Virus patches (MID format data), it's illegal to sell other people's patches as your own, however I'm sure you know this. Of course you can sell your own custom patches.

Just one more stipulation that I can think of: Although the Virus is mostly algorithmic synthesis (as opposed to something like a Korg workstation for example, which uses actual recorded samples of pianos and stuff) the 63 PCM waveshapes in the Virus are effectively short samples and as such I believe are copyright protected by Access. By all means use them in your patches, just don't sample the PCMs dry/raw (soloed, with no modulation) and sell them.

awesome...Thanks Timo...that really helped...:D

It's funny how with all media industry and lawsuits these days we have to be careful of what we sell or give out for free as original work. I can't believe that the 63 PCM waveshapes are copyright protected. I mean... has the sine wave ever been copyrighted? Anyways, this stuff only becomes a problem when someone releases a huge hit that makes millions and then someone tries to sue them for infringement. I think I read somewhere that all it takes to copyright a melody is 3 notes.... Amazing.

yes..it is quite amazing....gotta be so aware........
cant imagine copyrighting a sine wave or a d# scale...hahhah....imagine that....
its like Newton copyrighting gravity or something...

Check out this essay if your interested in copyright and it's impact on society - http://www.free-culture.cc/ Very interesting read, discussing why copyright came about, who it was intended to protect, and what the industry is doing now to ruin the process of sharing culture.

From what I understand about copyright with regards music - it's not something so simple as notes etc - you cannot copyright a chord change, but you can copyright a melody and lyrics with chord changes. There's actually 4 different parts of copyright within the recorded production of music.

To be fair I've never heard Access actually come out and and assert their muscle about copyright, but from what I know about ROMpler synths which use digital samples as their basis (including talking with a guy who used to create samples [including many single-cycle waveforms] for all the EMU boards) digital samples are always protected by copyright. In this case the PCMs are intellectual data of Access, as they physically resourced and worked to create them uniquely.

Btw, I believe the sine-wave (along with the pulse, saw and possibly the triangle) in the waveform section is algorithmic - generated in realtime - not a PCM sample. The reason for this is that the sine-wave is often used as a modulation source, so waveform accuracy is needed at all speeds/rates.