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Message

Re: Modcan

2001-06-08 by thornburgh73@yahoo.com

(...)
> For a Bool module in musical application, the choices are just
narrower.
>

but not so narrow as to copy the ENTIRE layout... besides with
a "logic" module it seems far more could be done I.E> with
some simple flip flops, counters and so forth, changing the
idea somewhat.
I think having a few digital gates is kind of
weak despite what you can allegedly do with audio (feedback
loops)

besides, it's obvious even before this module was introduced,
quite a number of designs were copied. if this were merely an
accident and not a consistent pattern, don't you think steps
would have been taken to prevent even the *appearance* of theft,
regarding future designs?

>
> I have to agree that the DADSR and the Panner modules are a
different
> matter. But concerning the Davies knobs, the Bool, Pk/Thr and
Polyfusion
> designs and the red trigger jacks, there are serious alternatives to
> considering these things a lack of creativity or even theft.
>

Add to this the 8x2 sequencer with A,B,A-B (aka Sequencer 17A)
this is the EXACT same layout except the stepselect buttons
are on the right not left side. Almost every designer has
some radically different step sequencer design.

It's really a shame because it seems otherwise modcan has some
really good ideas, like the oscillator design and especially
the wavetable module. Who knows, maybe they are more creative
than Serge. But, due to these ethical considerations (which I
suspected, and felt uncomfortable about, before this was "exposed"
onthe list), I won't consider to order anything from Modcan. I
think (because obviously, they are creative) they are doing this
*specifically* to attract existing/prospective Serge customers and
undercut their business. A new "alleged theft" just further confirms
my suspicion.

Look, I usually take a quite different position when it
comes to "intellectual property" debates, especially because it
is well known to me, in the audio industry (rather in digital audio),
that certain companies exist just to patent fundamental concepts they
did not invent & make money off of royalties and licensing backed
by legal threats. The issue with
Modcan is not that it's core theoretical concepts, but *very specific
design decisions* that are being copied without attribution. I have no
idea about the legal matters but as a matter of personal ethics I
continue to stay away.

> I don't think that that the Serge is going to loose its (often
mystified)
> uniqueness - which it took it near two decades, a long evolution
process of
> the underlying philosophy and manufacturing principles, and a broad
revival
> of Analog to acquire.

well you're quite the utilitarian :) yeah "Maybe it doesn't affect
serge at all, and so forth..." That's not the point, copying
the minutiae of design decisions w/o attribution is just wrong. why is
that difficult to understand?

--Harvey

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