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If you don't like the company you are obviously referring to, don't buy from them. But lots of people do because they are cheaper and it's all they can afford.</div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Synth-diy <synth-diy-bounces@synth-diy.org> on behalf of cheater cheater via Synth-diy <synth-diy@synth-diy.org><br>
<b>Sent:</b> 09 September 2026 18:31<br>
<b>To:</b> John <commodorejohn@gmail.com><br>
<b>Cc:</b> synth-diy@synth-diy.org <synth-diy@synth-diy.org><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [sdiy] Lockout / DRM chips?</font>
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<div class="PlainText">Hi John,<br>
Good questions, and they're the kind of questions that I would be<br>
asking as well in this situation.<br>
<br>
My reason for starting this thread is mostly about the practical<br>
technical methods of implementing a lockout, rather than the (still<br>
completely valid) business and marketing related questions you ask,<br>
but let me try to answer them real quick.<br>
<br>
So, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that I can't go<br>
into specifics, but there are good reasons to expect a new modular<br>
format showing up sometime in the not extremely distant future.<br>
<br>
That said, even without revealing anything, I can tell you that in my<br>
life there have been about ~10 viable, lasting, new physical formats<br>
for audio gear and interconnections, and of those, about 5 remain<br>
currently: Eurorack, API 500, 1U modules, 19"/2 audio processor racks,<br>
usb c, and the various networked audio systems. People thought dotcom<br>
and fracrack were going to stay here forever and scoffed at Eurorack<br>
as being cheap garbage (on this list too) that will never become<br>
popular and is only used by idiots.<br>
<br>
Regarding enforcing things in an analog interconnect format, that's<br>
not too much trouble, you can encode data over analog pretty easily,<br>
and a cryptographic challenge can take mere milliseconds to negotiate.<br>
<br>
Regarding "you can just replace it" - sure, but at some point if the<br>
lockout is built-in well enough, then it becomes uneconomical to<br>
modify things. How many people do you see modifying existing potted<br>
circuits, like in the Yamaha and ARP synths? Etc. Even if it's just a<br>
DIP, somewhere on the PCB, for almost all people it's going to be too<br>
much work to be worth it, they'd rather just buy the thing and support<br>
their favorite non-soulless companies. Piracy is a service problem,<br>
not a pricing problem.<br>
<br>
I don't know what you mean by lock-and-key. Do you mean a<br>
cryptographic handshake? But, like I said, there's certainly going to<br>
be a new format in the foreseeable future, so "disadvantage compared<br>
to the other guy" doesn't exist if the whole format contains this<br>
restriction. At this point there also isn't "pre-lockout" gear.<br>
Whoever proposes a new format, it's an interesting consideration on<br>
whether it's possible to lock it down so that _this one_ doesn't get<br>
smothered by unscrupulous mass manufacturers.<br>
<br>
On Wed, Sep 9, 2026 at 7:01 PM John <commodorejohn@gmail.com> wrote:<br>
><br>
> On Wed, 9 Sep 2026 17:54:27 +0200<br>
> cheater cheater via Synth-diy <synth-diy@synth-diy.org> wrote:<br>
><br>
> > I'm a huge opponent of lockout chips and DRM measures in all sorts of<br>
> > hardware, and essentially I hate it everywhere, but I believe in the<br>
> > case of tiny audio and synth manufacturers, one manufacturer in China<br>
> > is acting in a manner that simply does not let small businesses exist<br>
> > for the most part. One way of getting rid of this sort of behavior is<br>
> > to create an alliance of manufacturers where the modules check each<br>
> > other and exclude the one guy bootlegging people in his massive<br>
> > factory complex in China.<br>
><br>
> There's not much in the way of specifics here, so it's difficult to<br>
> say, but on the whole I can't see how it'd help. If you're working with<br>
> DSP synths, the hardware is pretty fungible since it's only a platform<br>
> for running the algorithms; if you're working with analog, I can't see<br>
> how you even *would* implement any kind of "lockout" on the actual<br>
> synth circuits - and any digital hardware is just a means to control<br>
> those, which could be subbed for by anything that can run a program and<br>
> drive a DAC.<br>
><br>
> Or are you suggesting that a modular *standard* be fitted with a lock-<br>
> and-key system? Then you're shooting yourself in the foot, since your<br>
> stuff won't work with everything while his stuff is free to do so -<br>
> which puts you at a *disadvantage* compared to the other guy.<br>
><br>
> And how do you propose to differentiate non-conforming pre-lockout gear<br>
> from "unauthorized" post-lockout stuff? Or are you under the impression<br>
> that "here's an incompatible standard we created solely to keep people<br>
> we don't like out of the treehouse, everyone re-buy all your existing<br>
> gear in the new format plzkthx" is anything but a laughable non-starter?<br>
<br>
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