# What does the end of ReBirth say about all the other Roland synth and drum machine clones?



## Reid Rosefelt (Jun 14, 2017)

Propellerhead Software brought out ReBirth RB-338 in 1996. For those who don't know it, it is an emulation of 2 Roland TB-303s, a Roland TR-808, and a Roland TR-909.
They stopped selling it for PCs in 2005 and put it out as an iPad app in 2010. It's going off the app store tomorrow because of Roland's claim of copyright infringement. Which of course is totally legitimate, it's just odd that it took two decades. 

My question is: what about all the many versions of Roland synths that are available today? Compared with other companies like Korg, they never did much of anything with their hardware synths until a few months ago, when they came out with Roland Cloud. The SoundCanvas on iOS is one notable exception. 

Korg, on the other hand, brought out the Legacy Collection for computers, and has been a leader in iOS music with its Gadget app, plus full releases of synths like the M1 and Wavestation. 

I've always noticed that you don't see any Korg synths in "classic synth" compilations put out by companies like Arturia, UVI, and soon, IK Multimedia. Do they guard their intellectual property more aggressively? 

I wonder what the end of ReBirth might mean for all the Roland clones that are on the market today? Perhaps a larger company like Arturia has licensing agreements with Roland, but there are so many little companies that have made Kontakt instruments, VSTs and apps of Roland stuff.


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## gsilbers (Jun 14, 2017)

I also read that news and I don't know about a few things. intellectual property/patent doesn't last that long, right? . those rolands 303, 909 808 are older than those protections. So I don't know if that's the real reason rebirth was canceled. is it really true? (besides that statement? )

I haven't seen any other issue with roland doing the same. is there?


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## synthpunk (Jun 14, 2017)

Roland has finally found a way to make money apparently  New products certainly hasn't been working.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Jun 14, 2017)

Patents last 20 years, but copyright "works for hire" last from a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication to a term of 120 years from the year of its creation.

I'm guessing that Roland is using copyright in this case. 

It really comes down to whether Roland has a lawyer send a letter to people with a threat of legal action. If people want they can challenge it in court and assert their rights--show how their product is different. Propellerhead already stopped sellling ReBirth on the PC long ago. Not sure why. But they kept on with it on the iPad. 

This is all very complex, because as we all know, the whole synth and software industry does work with a lot of "borrowing."


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## gsilbers (Jun 14, 2017)

wouldn't copyright be for creative works? those synths seem to be more on the patent side.
not sure about intellectual property as that covers several things.

YEs, the audio world in general borrows a lot. seems like everything is a clone of either moog, neve 73, neuman mics and a couple of others. I like that UAD pays a license and make it legit. but just putting a "73" on the name and having a blue panel with red knobs is a little more on the "cheap Chinese prada bag ripoff" sort of thing. We just gotten used to it, same as youtube and facebook just ripping off artist work for their gains with the excuse they are not the ones uploading it. just try THAT with a broadcaster. oh well, the world is changing.
im still courious of the legal basis of roland though. berhinger is coming out with that mood d clone and it would be along the same or similar lines as this rebirth issue.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Jun 14, 2017)

IMHO it's not about the niceties of the law so much as whether somebody wants to make an issue out of it. 

I believe that Korg has done so, as evidenced by the way they have been actively monetizing their creations across all platforms. 

Roland up until recently has not, in a way that I find frankly to be bewildering. If they put their synths up for sale as VSTs, AUs, and on the app store, tons of people would have bought them.


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