Legality of sharing samples

[Qualitymix]

Hey guys, I'm about to replace my old XV-88 with a simple keyboard midi trigger, but before I do I'm working on sampling as many of the great sounds off of it as possible using SynthClone. What is the legality of sharing those samples with the community?

[j_e_f_f_g]

Strictly speaking, you're not supposed to, unless you get permission from the manufacturer. But it's a grey area. You can't copyright the sound of a musical instrument per se, You can copyright only a specific recording (ie, sample). If you took an electronic musical instrument and manipulated/recorded the sound such that your samples are "different enough" from the raw samples to not be merely "a deriviative work", then you're using the product for its intended use.

But even in the case of sampling solely for the purpose of creating a software emulation of some hardware, some companies are cool with that (yamaha), and some not (roland).

[Qualitymix]

great, thanks jeff. one last question, when creating the samples...whats the best way to enable continuous looping when the key is either held down or the sustain pedal is held?

[tatch]

But even in the case of sampling solely for the purpose of creating a software emulation of some hardware, some companies are cool with that (yamaha), and some not (roland).

interestingly there are countless 808/909 sample packs on the internet, I wonder what roland thinks of that.