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Roland Backs Down On MT-32 Emulator
canadacow writes "This is a follow up to the cease and desist letter the MT-32 project received (Original Story). Roland, unable to find documentationg establishing a copyright on the MT-32's ROM, has yielded to the project and allowed distribution of the emulator to continue. On my page www.artworxinn.com/alex I've again posted the emulator along with the legal developments as they happened after the receipt of the initial C&D letter. This development was largely due in part to the legal support of the Electronic Frontier Foundation."
In a world where companies are always trying to squeeze every last marginal penny out of us "consumers", they usually want to do so by abandoning valid and proven technologies in order to force us to upgrade to the latest doo-hickey for the sake of upgrading. Musicians generally don't need "the lastest thing", much to the chagrin of big companies who are trying to get us to go digital. Tube guitar amps, transistor-based effects pedals, well designed classic style guitars from the 50/60's (Fender Stratocasters, Telecasters, Gibson Les Pauls, Martin acoustics), class A discrete mic preamps, pre-World War 2 German microphones, these items are still in use today and still built this way because quite simply, they work. Not to mention the quality factor. If companies had their way, they'd be making wood *veneer* electronics guitars a la IKEA instead of with solid ash/mahogany bodies. But oh, since it doesn't sound as good, they'll make up for it by putting in digital pickups and then running it through a mock tube circuit which really is just a little light show to trick the plebs. As a synthesizer player, I still like my old analog synths (Roland Jupiter, ARP 2600, Oberheim Matrix). Yet it's funny because these days, companies make these digital synths to emulate what was already done and call it "progress".
The sad thing is, this depends on so many technicalities, it is not likely there will be another "victory" like this for a long time to come, becuase the relevant laws have all been strengthened in the last 20 years. In the US, Copyright lasts (practically) forever now, with no registration or renewal requirements. Unless there is a major shift in the laws, there is nothing being produced today that will come this close to becoming public domain in 20-30 years.
So, while I'm glad the MT-32 emulation project can continue, I don't see much chance of any other more cheerful stories like this coming out.
Also, you need the ROM image from an MT-32 for this to work at all. If I remember correctly, this wasn't needed before.
Of course, due to the lack of a copyright, anyone can freely distribute that ROM. For example, you can currently get a copy of it from their page at sourceforge.
I suspect they made it external to the core program just in case the lawyers succeeded in making life difficult - Using a home-made (and thus non-copyrighted) version would get around any objections Roland might raise. And, more importantly, for those lucky enough to have an MT-32 to rip the ROM from (or the 99% of us who don't particularly give a damn about the legality of grabing one off the internet), a user could run with that one rather than the home-brew one, with no liability for the emulator's authors.
I recently pulled a Roland MT-32 that I paid way too much money for back in the early 1990's out of the closet and played for a while.
What a disappointment. The instruments are mediocre and very noisy. The MIDI implementation is unnecessarily difficult and poorly documented. The editor programs still available are awkward to use and impossible to alter (no source code anywhere for MT-32 editors).
The unit has no backup battery inside. All modifications to any sounds are lost at power-down. The internal firmware writes the mediocre internal voices over whatever is in RAM so just adding a battery to the RAM's VCC won't save your work.
The internal synthesizer is just a square wave and a sawtooth with a gritty filter, amplitude envelope, and pitch tweeker (fire engine siren generator). So-so reverb and precussion patches. That's the whole thing.
Of all the synthesizers to select to emulate, this would be my last pick. Fifteen years ago, when it was released, it might have been impressive. But not now.
In fact, of all the synth tone modules from that period, the MT-32 sells for the least amount of money on Ebay. Someone is always trying to unload one for $40-$50 US.
The only thing cheaper is the Yamaha FB-01. In my opinion, the FB-01 is a 'better' synth because you can at least get some really metallic industial sounds out of it, along with fair orchestral instruments. For a $50 Ebay synth, get a Yamaha TX-81Z. It's the same price as a Roland MT-32, but far more fun and flexable to play with.
I wish I could say this is a cheerfull story for me. I am certainly happy that the MT-32 project was able to go on its merry way. I am certainly happy that the author was able to continue using his spare time to make a positive contribution to both the culture and humanity. I am really not happy this played out in the usual way.
Consider the general case of legal intimidation.
1. The little guy undertakes a project/enterprise/undertaking that somehow threatens/annoys/provides a scapegoat for someone at a large company.
2. The large companies officers/representatives/agents meet with their legal representation and proceed to formulate an attack via the legal system.
3. If the activity isn't sufficiently profitable or the defendant doesn't have sufficient disposable personal resources, they either have to obtain pro-bono legal representation or face judgements that may economically devastate them.
4. Even if the defendant can defend themselves there is no assurance a victory ends the matter.
5. Even if a final victory is obtained by the defendant it is in only the most loose sense of the terms a victory. The only thing they have gained is the right to proceed in their business unmolested, they have lost a great deal of time, energy and usually financial resources to have things restored to status quo ante bellum.
I know its been said before, but the legal system is a cruel joke. To expect a class of people to place the pursuit of justice ahead of their personal profit is insane. Too allow anyone with a hair up their rear to bring suit indefinitely without the presumption of their being wrong and the built in provision for compensation is insane.
This was back in the day when copyright was NOT an inherant thing. You had to actually file for it. IF you failed to do so, you had no copyright. The law was later changed so that copyright was inherant, at the moment of creation. All you had to do was make something and you had the copyright.
Since the MT-32 was made before that date and since Roland didn't file, they have no copyright.