Dear Anne,

This is a halfway decent human being (at the very least). I have supported so many musicians, directors, writers and software developers that it actually makes my head spin to think about it and I'm even a software developer myself (not audio related) so you know when I tell you that I have stood where you're standing now, it's the truth. As a consumer I dealt with paying ridiculous sums of money for decades for a few good tracks on a whole album or a product that wasn't quite what I expected and more and more I found that copyright was spinning out of control. Had copyright been this oppressive in the past we would not have most of the music we enjoy today (amen break anyone?). I believe that in order for us to find some common dialog as a society we have to find a middle ground because we're not going anywhere, and I don't mean we as in this site but in general. To me watermarks, no demos, dongles, overly aggressive devs (fighting against something they can't even change), lobby groups pushing us all into tyranny and other forms of insanity are about as creative and musical as a visit to the proctologist. We seem to have lost sight of the important things because if any sane person were asked what the world needs more of, good music or copyright, you know which they are going to choose. Originally I downloaded a few small VSTs and a couple of sample libraries to get me started and undertook my musical journey to find some catharsis not to become rich and famous off of other people's hard work.

I spend my free time giving people some hope by performing random acts of kindness whether it be support in their time of need (we have people here that are physically/mentally sick , crippled and/or dying), reviewing and making suggestions on the music people share, providing tutorials for musicians, offering my knowledge free of charge in helping others learn about production, computing or whatever else I can offer, posting news about new products (effectively advertising for you guys), posting world news in an attempt to actively engage people in what's going on around them, sharing YouTube links to some of the great music I have discovered through the decades of my life (through purchases) and so much more. In the real world I often volunteer to help the elderly and in the past I have donated a good amount of time teaching computers to underprivileged children for free. I also fight for the rights of oppressed people's and support organizations that do good in this world from the EFF to charities even though I am poor. I was wondering when was the last time you did any of those things Anne? And I want you to know that I am not an exception here because we have so many people that it has truly been my honor to have met, I cannot overstate this enough and you using what was the word..."disgusting" towards them makes me livid and I can't possibly imagine what kind of constructive conversation we could have after such a comment. What I have witnessed in these forums has literally rekindled my faith in humanity itself which is a hell of a lot more valuable than copyright in my opinion but you aren't even remotely open to that possibility and it shows in your dialogue and ability to understand only yourself. I know you want to demonize us as heartless soulless creatures because that makes it easier for you to go about crushing people into submission with your morality, threats of legal action and other aggressive tactics that believe it or not are actually more damaging to your bottom line than anything we're doing here. It becomes difficult for us to want to legitimately support a developer like you no matter how good your product may be simply because of your disposition. And if you believe that nobody here has bought your products you would be making a gross miscalculation.

Also you must have missed my recent post where I stated in huge bold letters: IF YOU USE THE SOFTWARE EXTENSIVELY PLEASE BUY IT. THE DEVS NEED YOUR SUPPORT AND DESERVE TO GET PAID FOR THEIR EFFORTS!!! That doesn't sound like someone that doesn't value the time and energy that was put into a product. Please support the devs is something that I often am saying or hearing here. In fact we believe in this so much that releases are pushed back for quite a while at times in order to allow them to cash in on their hard work, you just don't know that info. On top of that we always have removed posts when asked to out of respect which is something you won't find everywhere. The truth is I don't even download that much and when I buy a product it has ALWAYS been because I have been able to try it out first through warez since I am too poor to afford the astronomical costs without some assurance that they are right for me and this is especially true of Kontakt libraries which for some reason we have to plunk out insane amounts of money for without being able to demo first and you have convinced yourselves that this is somehow normal, no moral dilemmas there. I don't make a penny from my music and if I ever do (or even if I don't but use a product extensively) I will be the first in line to buy what I utilized because I'm not the kind of person that could stomach not doing so and I would want the tech support and connection that comes with a purchase not to mention investing money in developers I believe in so they can continue to make more products and not more insults. That is why the little I have been able to save has been invested in the devs that I'm sure frequent this site even in spite of the fact that maybe I should have invested that cash in a new computer (7 years old). We are saddened by the assumptions on the content of our moral fiber and the attitudes and complete lack of respect for what we are trying to do for the music community and whereas you make substantial money for what is in effect your job, my work (as well as countless other people's work far greater than I) has always been free of charge and besides using these facts to make a point I don't even like to bring them up because that's how you know that you're doing something from the heart. The bottom line of all this is that if this is a world where you who are ready to make wild assumptions, insult, threaten and prosecute poor musicians and I somehow end up being the scum of the earth then the human race is honestly doomed. In your pursuit of copyright you have lost all semblance of your humanity and it saddens me. I genuinely believe that your products have value but maybe it's time for you to understand that so do we.

Sincerely,
Almost Human

 

not to mention unlike many others software kontakt libs rarely offer a demo and u might get surprises once u bought a lib, all those videos are good tutorials but they dont really shows the issues (lacking of round robin, pitch shifting of samples etc..)

 

Yeah I mentioned that in this post and on the first thread she posted on at AudioZ. Seems to be a double standard there somewhere.

 

To Cat




To Anne

 

someone gimme some background cuz I don't know what's going on

 

Anne is from CineSamples and she's been posting on those threads on AudioZ, I promised her a response and so I have prepared one.

 

I can't seem to find the threads on AudioZ...

EDIT: Oh wait, nevermind I found the bitch...gimme a sec while I tell her to make me a sammitch *yes*

EDIT #2: OMFG! IMMEDIATELY from reading her post I can clearly tell that the user behind that is MASS TROLLING. DON'T FALL FOR IT SHE'S A FAKE!!!

 

if it's really the case, then she is dishonest, since she pointed out a court statement treatening us of suing, but she forgot to mention that the exmaple she was referring was a case against another developer ripping off samples and selling under his name..

 

You would know.
Honestly it matters not because you can replace CineSamples with any other aggressive devs. I guess we'll find out if we get a notice. Either way next time it's for real I won't have to spend time writing something up. I'd like to know though because I don't want to accuse them of something they haven't done or at least haven't done yet.

 

yep it's trolling, but dw I told her to make me a sammitch...counter-trolled so we should be fine *yes*

 

Man glad you're on our team.

 

Well said Catalyst! +10

I'm sure you spoke out of the hearts of many people here on audioz and audiosex.
Not only Anne and her friends work very hard, but millions and millions of people in the whole world. The
only difference between Anne, developers, privileged people who have jobs, and the rest of the millions
of people, is that most people work in slavery-like conditions and get next to nothing for their hard
work. In these times of child labour, sexual slavery, and the general exploitation of people who are
poor, sick and defenceless, we have the privileged people of the world complaining about losing money due
to other people "stealing" from them. It in turn makes me sick that a lot of people on this planet
believe they have the right to exploit other people, take possession of all resources, and then point a
moral finger at people who act "economically". It's funny that the whole system preaches economic's, but
when we act economically we are accused of "stealing". Looking at the world today, it's becoming obvious
that due to the ever-increasing greed of a small portion of "humanity" that the next world war is
imminent in the form of the fight between the rich and the poor !!

Sorry if i was a bit off topic, but i think it's all relative.

 

Certainly relative my friend, I completely and wholeheartedly agree with you.

 

I always buy the staff that I use extensively , but first , and I say this without any shame , I use pirated software . A lot ... Why ?
Because most of the time , the product is shite and is useless . In video demo or mp3 demo you find always only the best example of the soft . The rest , God forgive , only garbage !!! Half of samples library which use kontakt like a player are . The scary tactics " we watermark our library " is so 1980 , like your name I think (anne1987) . The real software developer use his own sample player (Omnisphere - I bought it) , create a good software not so easy to crack (U-he - and I bought Diva) or dongle ( Halion 4 ) .

 

To read a longer text in english tires me a lot faster than in my own language. So i read it more than once and discovered something new each time.
Excellent letter. Catalyst, you speak for most....no.....for all of us, i believe.

CineSamples stands definitely not on my list of products i want to buy in the future, whether they are good or not -
and i don't feel the need to download their stuff to find it out, after i have read Anne's lousy comment.
There's so much good stuff available from developers representing another attitude. I can live without CineSamples products. That's my very personal consequence.

One thing to Anne, just in the rather unlikely event that you are reading this:
My impression is, that you are looking at the present and the members of AudioZ through the eyes of the past. These guys are not like that chilenian guy from IceSamples. Definitely. *no*
What Catalyst said to you already is true. These people here are a completely different league. I am proud to be a part of this.
There is much more behind all this, as it seems at first very superficial glance. But that is surely not of interest for you anyway.

But there's actually another thing i want to say and why i digged in, and it has nothing to do with copyright fights, piracy and stuff like that.
First i wanted to say it to Catalyst, privately, because it concerns himself. But no, truly it concerns us all.
It was a single sentence in this letter, actually just a part of a sentence, which has touched me deeply inside - and i am sitting here with tears in my eyes:

"What I have witnessed in these forums has literally rekindled my faith in humanity itself......."

Wow! Thanks so much for telling us, Catalyst!

Dear Anne: that's what it is about. No product ever in the world or a big bunch of $$$, can cause something like that. You know that too.
Once i myself was rich, currently i am poor - one thing i know for sure:
An open heart or one which opens again is more worth than anything else - and basically priceless.

 

As my English is pretty bad, I wondered part of yesterday's evening what/how to answer to " Anne " ...

Then, today, following Catalyst's link on AudioZ, I land here. [ That's why the " newbie " *yes* ]

What can I say better than Catalyst ? Nothing.

Agreed 200 %.

You ( he ) answered masterfully. Respect !

" My stand is clear: produce to distribute, feed before you eat, give before you take,
think of others, before you think of yourself. Only a selfless society based on
sharing can be stable and happy. This is the only practical solution.
If you do not want it - fight. "

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj​

 

So, it must be really true that we are going through the new Middle Ages. You must have a nice collection of serfs. Feudal landlords, debt slaves you know... I ...feel... ...feelings...

(Not attacking you, just snatched on that line to make some generic commentary)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeXQBHLIPcw

 

you guys should even feel bad that MAGNETRIXX aka Sunny use stolen credit cards and upload this stuff illegally to make money out of warez !

and if i read some comments from some people i really don´t know what to say , unbelievabale

 

Alraun
Thank you so much Alraun, your encouragement is much appreciated. Every time I read a message from you I need a moment because it's so deep. We're really honored to have you with us my friend...and by that I mean you're trapped we've locked the doors and now you're stuck with us.

I can't WAIT until frito finally makes it over here, he's using the internet in his local coffee shop but AudioSex is blacklisted. He got them to agree to make an exception and hopefully soon he will come and post his contribution for the album...fittingly entitled Starve To Death and was written while he was homeless. I got a sneak peak and I love it.

DAW
Such amazing comments, thank you. Welcome to the forums my friend. You'll find an amazing community here.

TinTin
Yeah we've been down this path of reasoning over and over about a million times but let's take her for a spin again. You don't download warez right since you know so much about Sunny? There are many ways to get warez, some of which don't involve anyone making any cash so there goes that argument because if it matters so much to you then just use torrents. Do you also think about how cyberlockers make money or ads on The Pirate Bay, why is that not on the table for discussion especially considering they are the ones hosting the content? And I've got news for you: there are PLENTY of people in the warez community that do things out of the goodness of their heart with no incentive whatsoever, me being one of them.

 

This might be true or not..

Even if it's truth.. you already breaking "law" by downloading any piece of software/sample that violates the copyright issues.

I can see why the company complain about the problem.. but if they persecute everyone that break their copyrights.. they will most likely go broke between all the lawyers fee. Thats why companies such as Pro tools or Steinberg use such as annoying set of iLoks or activations codes to get rid of "possible lawsuits".

Instead of complaining about who gets their product legally or illegally. They should find ways to lower the cost and lower the price.

In my experience companies that offer discounts to students tend to get my money.


Also if you base your company on "Sample packs". Don't expect for people to buy them 100% of the time... Specially on an industry where.. 80% of the people tend to "pirate/torrent/crack/w.e" music from labels/artist/bands.

And even.. Some artist rip other artist work.. Will.I.Tell.You.A.Story