EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

> I am curious how you started your
> work. Did you just try to be quiet and do a good job or did you
> occasionally ask for (and get) permission in advance?
Hollow Sun started with just some Mellotron samples and a few Roland,
Ensoniq and Korg samples (all products long out of production) and quite
frankly, I didn't even think about copyright. These were followed by other
suitably ancient instruments (Rhodes, Clav, Roland VP330, ARP String
Ensemble, etc.). Again, quite frankly, copyright didn't even cross my mind
(I genuinely thought it wasn't an issue)!

The first instrument I featured that was/is in production was the Novation
K-Station but that only came about through an informal chat with the guys at
Novation when I was working on the V-Station and was considered almost an
act of publicity.

Other times, I have just risked it. One such example was the Chapman Stick.
I wanted to feature that instrument not just for its fabulous sound but also
to bring this amazing instrument to the attention of the wider sampling
community. Three days after the page went up, I received an email from
Emmett Chapman himself thanking me for the page and asking if he could use
part of my description of the instrument on Chapman's own company website
(and offering some freebies in return!).

I have also been contacted by relatives of the deceased members of the
Mellotron/Chamberlin story thanking me for putting the whole story into
accurate perspective. And I was contacted by one of Chamberlin's relatives
to correct some info on that page.

I also know (again, from personal contact) that many key Korg and Roland
staff and personnel are using my stuff in the Triton and Fantom respectively
and have written to thank me for the sounds - ironic when you consider that
a fair chunk of it uses samples from Korg and Roland keyboards/synths!

And I was at Roland UK's head office for a meeting the other week and they
commented how fabulous my J/XV CD's audio demo sounded!!!

So, the whole thing at Hollow Sun has just evolved without one single issue
or complaint. *Technically* and in the strict eyes of the law, the site
might represent a field day for some lawyer but, in *practice*, Hollow Sun
seems to have attained the tacit approval of the industry to the point where
the work I present there has led to opportunities within the very companies
whose instruments I feature!

I can't say whether what I do at Hollow Sun is right or wrong... it was
certainly never *intended* as a rip-off, profiteering exercise and the whole
venture is done with everyone's best interests in mind. Whatever it is that
I have done, I seem to have got away with it to the point that Hollow Sun
now appears to be an accepted part of the sampling community, even by the
manufacturers themselves.


Best regards,


Steve
http://www.hollowsun.com