Disappearing Synths

Are items being removed from the User Library?

A few weeks ago everyone was passing around a JPEG of a virtual '303 that LOOKED really good. Then is appears to have disappeared.

A few nights ago, I saw a Korg MS-20 simulation that visually captured the synth very well; tonight I searched many times and then stepped through the entire synth section twice and I can't find it!

Am I just not seeing these items? I've spent the past four hours looking for them.

 

Perhaps they were removed for legal reasons.

 

I know the 303 emu was removed by the creator for that reason-there was a thread at K-v-R about it when it was first put up(and removed)that was started by a friend of the guy who did it.
The MS20 probably went the same way as John pointed out.Korg and Roland are VERY protective about copyright issues.
ew

 

Thanks for the replies.

I have to admit to being a little cranky about this. I was anxious to see these simulations up close, and now they're gone.

Further, being a Reaktor _4_ user, I'm just now learning that 99.99% of the content on the User Library is incompatible Reaktor 3 content, so I can't use any of it.

I wish there was a way that R4 could convert these files, or at least open them in "maintanance mode" or something so that we could study them and learn from them... maybe "recompile" them.

Before buying R4 I browsed the libraries, and the existence of all of that great content--the virtual keyboard modules, the alternative graphics, and the great-looking synth simulations...--all of that helped push me into buying the program.

I can't say I'm disappointed with R4 -- it's a powerful application for the price -- but I have to admit to a big disappointment with a few aspects of it, and the incompatible, dancing content in the User Library is chief among the reasons for this let-down feeling.

Sure it's easy to say (as all the reviews do), "But look at all the great pre-packaged synths you get for the money!" Well, sure, that's certainly true. On that level, R4 is a fantastic deal. But R4 is a "construction kit" -- that's why I bought it. Not for all the free [if wonderful] synths.

I'm just a little bummed out, that's all. I'll get over it.

 

could you state some ensembles which refuse to work?
i have absolutely no problem with any file in the
r4 user library and that makes me wonder.

best wishes

ingo

 

Actually, I was just informed in another thread that there are two different user libraries, which may be my entire problem. I had no idea! Just browsing into the web site, I ended up in the R3 one by mistake it seems.

This is good news for me. It's not very clear, though, on the web site that there are two different libraries. I wish that was more obvoous.

I'm going hunting for the R4 library right now.

 

"Obviously," the word I meant to type was "obvious," not "obvoous."

 

I can't either find the MS20 imitation uploaded last week by Soundpilot (I think). He also had a sampler with the Akai logo that is also missing. I made a comment in the user lib that he should remove the logos.

I have no idea if Soundpilot removed them or if NI did it...

I sure hope this doesn't mean that NI is going to censure all look-a-like synths. Using a logo is one thing, making a look-a-like of a dead product is another at least in my book. In this case Korg have re-made the MS20, so it's more complicated...

 

Vintagio,

It is very unlikely that you are browsing the wrong library. You probably need to update reaktor 4 to the latest version (free update). Early versions of r4 display a message about ensembles being created in r3.something. The ensembles *aren't* from reaktor 3 (nothing, for instance, with custom graphics can be). Get updated and everything in the library should work fine for you.

As far as missing out on synths. Lunchbox is a far better sounding 303 emulation than the pretty one that went missing. The 'Akai' sampler is available in James Walker Hall's 'sampler pack', the only difference being in the eye-candy. I think the ms-20 by solar is still there if you look, -the recent post was just a facelift of an older synth - and if you are willing to forgo the pretty graphics. There is no legal issue with emulating synths, or even declaring which synth inspired it. It is only the graphics and registered trademarks which are copyright.

 

Thanks! That was exactly the problem. I just received Reaktor 4 a week ago, and it was apparently version 4.00.01 or something like that. The updater brought it to 4.03 or something similar, and that seems to have taken acre of all of the compatibility issues! So I guess I WAS in the right place, but with the wrong software.

As far as the issue of imitating historical synthesizers goes, I really wonder where the line is drawn. It's a big gray area. First, there's a difference between synths currently in production and those 30-years out of reach. Then there's the aspect of making a virtual imitation 95% similar but with a different name (e.g., "MiniMood")... this reminds me of the way that computer font developers sidestep coyright issues by renaming exact-same fonts ("Caslon Antique" sold as "Casablanca," "Canson Anthill," etc.).

The third factor is that no one is charging money for these creations, and I find it hard to believe that anyone could, in court, make a case that 'Little Johnny's" Oberheim Matrix 12 Reaktor 'tribute' is taking food out of the mouths of Tom Oberheim's kids. You know? It just seems like an absurd legal case that someone would create a virtual homage to a product out of production for decades, share it for free, and end up getting sued.

I'm being a little facetious here, but I just wonder where the line really falls. I don't want to take food out of the mouths of any engineers' kids; on the other hand, I'm a visually-oriented person who does UI design all day long -- the "look" of a tool is as important to me as its function, for better or worse. Part of the fun of creating these synthesizers is the nostalgia factor. Sure, it's just a lark, and a Reaktor synth would work just as well painted green as it would painted up as an old Roland machine. But it's fun to make it look like the tool that inspired the sound.

I'm just thinking out loud. I'm having fun tinkering modules together, but I'm also a Photoshop fiend, and the desire is there to make some "historical" or even "alternate reality" versions of 70's machines. Is this really "bad"? Woudl there be "trouble" if I shared them...? I wish I knew the answer.

 

I would like NI to state there policy for the user library about this, as as they removed some ensembles allready.

The ones mentioned above (Akai sampler, Korg MS20 and TB303) used logos/brandnames and/or graphics snatched from providers web so it was kind of obvious. But Martin Brinkmanns SID64 emulation has also disappeared and I don't why (neither do Martin). Maybe he used a brandname, but I'm not sure...??

I have several projects in the pipe, so I would like to know what's the deal. Sure I don't like to eat somebody elses lunch but making a look-a-like using my own crafted graphics without brandnames & logos in homage to the real thing shouldn't make any harm????