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Big changes coming to Pianobook

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NYC Composer said:
Social media is a tool of the Devil. It can elevate you personally and professionally but it can also destroy you in an instant. I stay out of 99.9% of it.
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I completely agree, though my stubborn refusal to be part of this is likely hurting the visibility of my work online.

Speaking of Pianobook, although I'm not a samplist, I consider myself a part of the community, having submitted more than fifty pieces I'm really proud of to its demo section over the years. Unfortunately, I must say that my enthusiasm somewhat waned recently. One of the many reasons is the introduction of the commercial element. Don't get me wrong here. I agree that people who created something of outstanding quality should be adequately rewarded. However, there are also plenty of those who were patiently and diligently partaking in the project, but will likely never enter that elite circle. They might not have access to attractive instruments or musicians, some posh equipment to use, or perhaps just a strong enough social media presence. Still, they are valuable members of the community and what makes it tick. On the other hand, I can agree to a degree with the post above that some people are rather uncritical about the quality of what they submit to Pianobook.

All the same, I'm hoping that CH's original vision of Pianobook will remain despite all the changes. That is, preserving memories through sampling, inspiring each other, and of course, sharing.
 
All very sad, on all sides of the argument.

In relation to Spitfire it feels as if they have totally lost their identity since Covid, something changed and it hasn’t felt as if their hearts were in it the same way. This incident is like a culmination of all that.

Regarding the original tweet in question, I remember reading it at the time it was posted, before anyone reacted to it, and my first thoughts were along the lines of “ouch - this could cause a bit of controversy”. But to quote another quirky Brit source, I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition.

That original tweet had a link to a video Graham Linehan had posted where he was having a really nasty pop at Stewart Lee’s “Snowflake” stand-up routine, in which Lee ridicules Ricky Gervais for complaining about “cancel culture”. So three comedians having a massive public disagreement about something has ended up with CH stepping away from Spitfire and others leaving the Pianobook/Spitfire community. Plus whatever fallout is yet to come. I have to wonder what it would be like if the great Bill Hicks were still around and on social media!

Incidentally, if anyone hasn’t heard it this recent podcast is interesting where Christian talks about his career. The matter in question is touched upon just after 59 minutes into it and Christian states his belief the issue needs to be talked about face to face over a drink and not on social media. It’s just a shame he didn’t think that before tweeting.
 
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The whole thing is unfortunate. I’ll never understand why he thought the tweet was a good move, being the co-founder of a company built on inclusivity and championing the individual. It was so obvious it would cause a lot of pain to the community and company he was seen as a beating heart of.

If only he’d phrased the tweet more compassionately, maybe expressed concern about some of the stuff he’d heard and read, made it clear he wanted to reach out and hear from the trans community so he could better understand and process any fears or concerns he might have had. Explained a little why this subject was so important and concerning for him. To come out with full throated support for the people in question was so, so obviously going to be a dagger to the heart of a large section of a community he had built around ostensible inclusivity and openness.

Perhaps even more unfortunate has been events since. I think had he just leant into the community instead of away from it, he could have rescued the situation somewhat. I feel there was room to turn this into something far more positive than it has become. But who knows what has gone on around these events - conjecture is sort of pointless, though I guess we’re all compelled to have a bit of a say on quite a dramatic series of events.

In the modern world you just can’t drop the mic on an issue this sensitive, in a community this diverse and close knit, and expect it to be over and done. I do feel somewhat for Christian, who I have no reason to suspect is a hateful person at heart, probably quite the opposite, but I just don’t know why he went about this the way he did and didn’t see what was likely to happen. Yes you’re entitled to say what you like, think what you want. But the divide between the brand and mission he had built around himself and his company, and the stance he took, was always going to cause immense shockwaves in a small community. And these kinds of scorched earth endpoints are ironically where we usually end up, despite the fact it’s what the vast majority of people would not have wanted.
 
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3DC said:
Moral Inquisitions, Censorship, Forced Transgenderism, Legalized Paedophilia, Ukraine fight for Nazis, Total Control, Bug Food, Eco Taxation, Forced Vaccinations, Legalization of Narcotics, Induced Poverty, Child Labour, Pillaging of Nations, AI exploitation of your past work....and my favourite must be:

Thought Control - The basic human right mind you! The last problem before TOTAL CONTROL.

People thinking out loud not good for Pigs on the George Orwell's Animal Farm. They don't want discussions, opinions,...right or wrong, educated or ignorant. They want "Likes", Blind Obedience and "Share" of Pigs Official Politics.

If you are willing to burn whole countries, cultures, books, businesses and now even people for this commonly known "Western Values" then I can't be with you. I am also stepping down from this Pigs controlled Titanic.

P.S.
DEVIDE ET IMPERA - WE are ALL being played. Sadly some of you will learn this when the water finally boils.
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I know where you're coming from. And just to preface I'm not confusing Christianity with "Christian" Henson. Or thinking that his first name is Henson and he's a Christian.

I used to be very much embroiled in this earthly battle against totalitarianism, woke ideology, medical freedom, etc...

Until I discovered Christianity - like really discovered it. Not the false teachings peddled by a lot of people on the right who seek to establish a political dominion in their ungodly pursuit of an earthly paradise.

The fact is, as Christians when we are confronted by these issues, we must remember that God is in control.

Now there are some cases where we can resist or disobey. If your child was to be subject to treatments from the state that went against your (scripturally based) spiritual convictions, you could flee or hide your child.

Generally speaking, however, rebellion against authorities is rebellion against God who we are taught in Romans 13 actually gives authority to kings and rulers. ("Disobedience to tyranny is obedience to God" actually has no basis in the Bible)

1 Peter 2:13 also similarly teaches submission to authority. This was during the time of Nero when Christians were being burnt alive and fed to lions.

Would you honestly say that what you have mentioned (much of which is overstated by talking heads who thrive on scaring their audiences) is as bad as that level of persecution?

The fact is the world has always been an evil place. And that evil starts with us.

It is easy to look at things that are blatantly evil and be put under a delusion that we are a lot more righteous than we actually are.

The best response to persecution, unjust treatment, and tyranny, is to repent and do good.

That's what's so striking about this situation involving Christian Henson.

I think with his contributions alone, there are composers who potentially wouldn't ever have to purchase a single instrument as there are so many free professional quality tools to work with.

I look at people in these witch hunts and think to myself that they must be perfect. Because, even if you believe CH is in the wrong, this is one alleged transgression that seems to have cost him quite a bit.

I didn't realise there were so many good people who have not only matched or exceeded his contributions but have never done or said anything that could be considered offensive within their own boundaries (Not boundaries that I share).

In saying that, I actually agree (although I don't know anywhere near the full details) with his decision to step down.

It's not worth being embroiled in this fight.

I understand why people are driven to anger in opposition to this stuff. But it's an earthly fear-driven battle that is just getting uglier by the day, so I focus on my own inadequacies, as opposed to trying to correct the world.

I'm too flawed to do that and face a daily struggle to become a better person myself.
 
I think it’s interesting that in the last 2 months we’ve had 2 fairly epic threads about 2 different companies. Somewhat different circumstances between the two, but for me the bottom line in both cases seems to be “that was a bad/foolish thing they did/said, but the response (or lack of) amplified everything tenfold.”

I think there’s a lesson in there somewhere…
 
doctoremmet said:
There’s definitely a lot of irony in this, all I dare say. Also, I am convinced this will not in any way stop the criticism, because there is no apology in there. I am not saying there should be, but it has become apparent to me listening to some of the people who were in a recent YT livestream that Spitfire can only ever be respected again if both CH and their top management apologize in a way more explicit way. And they better act like they mean it too.

It saddens me that a lot of people were this upset by a ‘tweet’. I did not at all sympathize with that tweet. I was disappointed by it and maybe even annoyed because I found it offensive -and what usually annoys me even more- stupid and ill informed. According to myself.

It also saddens me that people -imho- blow this up to epic proportions, feel the urge to boycott an entire company, etc. Is it an overreaction? No, people are free to do as they like. I get they’re angered and annoyed. But on the other hand, there’s definitely a LOT of irony in there. The absolute brutal piling-on and some of the rhetoric used (I mean…. Some talk of a genocide… in the actual context of one ill-informed person’s fucking tweet)… I don’t know man. One wishes people would develop the same passion for world hunger, poverty or some problems that people are actually dying from on a daily basis). Yeah that’s right. I’m from 1971 and fondly remember a way friendlier discourse, let’s leave it at that. Ignore and cancel away. At some point in history I hope people will realize that Twitter is just a bunch of unredacted brain farts mostly. Of course people should use it wisely. And if I were the founder of a business with responsibilities for 100+ employees I’d absolutely avoid Twitter like the plague. Way way too dangerous in this day and age.

This is the first and last thing I’ll say on the matter. Again, I’m all for trans rights, absolutely regret the content of the tweet, and get why people are mad. But… to an extent. CH is just a guy from an SME sized tiny little business. At some point one wonders what’s the fuzz all about. Ignore the man, boycott all you like, express your anger and then move on? Apparently no. People have to lose their business over it. “Good riddance”. And then some, because I predict new videos stating this is not enough will appear overnight. Humanity just sucks, what a mess.
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"if both CH and their top management apologize in a way more explicit way. And they better act like they mean it too."---or perform "seppuku" publicly to satisfy some
 
'Back in the day', you'd have created a shitstorm of similar impact if you had decided to use a radio interview to throw your weight as one of the big names in the industry behind the idea that a group of marginalized people is collectively suffering from a mental illness that needs to be cured.. under the guise of 'think about the children'.

You can't do that now, you couldn't have done that back then.
There's a reason businesses and the people who founded them are generally only remembered for their philanthropy and not their misanthropy.
Generally... looking at you here, Henry Ford.

Please be realistic. You can't claim a group of people are not who they are because they're 'just mentally ill' and expect them, their friends, and their peers to still throw money your way.

Anyway, I was boycotting SA way before it was cool, hah!
 
It makes me sad to see so many defending him here. Sorry everyone but I think Christian Henson has clearly revealed himself to be a shitty guy, and I’m glad to see the pushback in other circles. There’s no place for Jordan Peterson peddlers in this community, or at least, I hope someday there won’t be.

I still won’t be buying Spitfire products anymore, for myriad reasons, but notice that Christian has not left the company in any financial sense.

The millionaire continues to be a millionaire, and will continue to spread his disinformation as he pleases. He has not been cancelled at all.
 
I have been thinking for some time, if it makes sense to comment that issue. However, there are a few aspects that have not been mentioned yet.

First of all, I am myself a member of the LGBTIQ community (I am a gay cis-man). I have full sympathy for trans people and support their fight of a better society without discrimination.
Regarding public/online debate about similar issues, I noticed a few things that might be useful to understand this debate. I won't discuss the case of Christian Henson specifically, because the problem is much greater than a single case.

Maybe those insights might also help to improve the whole culture of debate:

1, Toxicity of online debates

Twitter is in my opinion a really toxic platform. If a certain topic is discussed, you always come across (often anonymous) trolls, who lead the debate into a very unhealthy direction. There are on the one hand people who engage in a respectful way with each other and then you have those postings on both sides that consist of nothing more but swearing and name calling (e.g. "Shut up you [xxx]"). Those comments usually lead to more hateful comments, even if the very same person engaged in a constructive way before.

Another downside of Twitter is, that it is completely unmoderated and that it is impossible to discuss something in detail because of the 280 character limit. I never saw that much of toxicity on Reddit for example (of course hate and trolling happens everywhere, but Twitter has some unique problems that enhances this kind of behaviour).

2, It's not about good and evil, but about logical fallacies

I think we should acknowledge that most people, who say things that sound absurd or hurtful, don't do that out of hate or because they are in some way evil persons. Instead they might have honest concerns or reasons why they might come up with an argument that we don't agree with. Those arguments might be biased or contain an enormous amount of logical fallacies. On the other hand, our own arguments might be subject to logical fallacies too. And even if you are sure that your own opinion about a subject is supported by facts and logical consistent, you might still have very biased opinions about a totally different topic.

So my dream of a modern debate culture would be to put the anger aside and actually talk to people in the most respectful way, always asking yourself: "How do I want to be treated if I express a totally biased opinion?"

I also think that it is especially difficult to acknowledge that you were totally wrong about something. You rarely see that in online spaces, because it is often rather humiliating for the person. However, I am sure that it is much easier if the whole environment is supportive and if the discussion happens in the most respectful way possible.

Imagine you make a statement about something and another person calls you an idiot/biggot/racist/.... Now imagine that instead of being insulted, the other person says something like: "I think you are wrong about that. Have you considered [insert facts that contradict the statement]" or "I find your comment hurtful, because...". The latter approach makes it far easier to reconsider your opinion and it is a good start point for an honest discussion about a certain topic.
Of course I know that it is pretty difficult to establish such a form of communication, especially if emotions are involved or if it is a topic that concerns you personally. I am not perfect in that regard too, but I try my best. Nevertheless, I managed to have respectful discussions with people, who share totally different views and in some cases I even convinced them that their view might be biased.

In my Facebook friends list (where I don't hide my sexual orientation/relationship status), I even have one person who is anti-gay (in a way that she supports policies of Victor Orban). I had a lot of very respectful discussions with this person over the years and I was not sure if it helped at all (as this person never acknowledged that they were wrong). But like a year ago, I married my husband and this person congratulated me and then told me in a private chat that she supports gay marriage. I consider that a huge win!

3, Cancel culture and freedom of speech

Freedom of speech guarantees that the government does not prosecute you for expressing your opinion. When people suffer consequences, because other people do not want to work with them, that is not a free speech issue. I do believe that a lot of people, who complain about cancel culture, also practice cancel culture in some way (in a way that they want to cancel trans right activists for example).

When we talk about cancel culture, there is also another point that we should consider: On Twitter I often saw that when a crowd of people managed to get a person fired / made to resign, they uncritically share the narrative of the company (e.g. "we work for an open environment of tolerance, where [xxx] has no place in it"). And then you see Twitter profiles of people, who claim to be "anti-capitalist", sharing those posts. I find that pretty hilarious, because the huge majority of companies make such decisions in order to protect their economic interest. This is a simple cost-benefit-analysis in order to protect shareholder's interests. If Twitter and online shitstorms already existed in the McCarthy era, people would suffer from public shitstorms and get fired for posting "pro union"-stuff.

All that has rarely to do with the political views of the owner or company leadership and they do not care about diversity, except if it increases profits. Just look closer at large companies who promote themselves to be very diversive. Often you will notice that it is a simple publicity stunt to distract from harmful corporate practices / controversies.
 
Gender Affirming Surgery is a rapidly evolving field of study. Here's some research-

1. A 2021 systemic review of 27 studies, pooling 7928 transgender patients who underwent any type of GAS found that the prevalence of regret among patients undergoing transmasculine and transfemenine surgeries was less than 1%.

2. A 2023 study of a gender affirmation surgery clinic found that of a total of 1989 individual underwent GAS, 6 patients (0.3%) either requested reversal surgery or transitioned back to their sex-assigned at birth.

3. A 2014 study of a 50 year period in Sweden found that out of a total of 767 people who underwent gender affirmation surgery, 2.2% regretted the decision. There was a significant decline of regret rate over the time period (1960-2010).

1. https://journals.lww.com/prsgo/Full...t_after_Gender_affirmation_Surgery__A.22.aspx

2. https://journals.lww.com/plasrecons..._after_Gender_Affirming_Surgery___A.1529.aspx

3. https://www.researchgate.net/public...en_1960-2010_Prevalence_Incidence_and_Regrets
 
I'm sad Christian has gone, he and Paul were the heart of Spitfire Audio for me.

I'm not expressing any opinion either way regarding his tweet and the subsequent turn of events but the sooner this thread is closed the better.
 
I've deleted my post. I tried to be as measured as possible but now that I've gotten what I had to say off my chest, there is no point in sharing it. In short, I'm glad Henson stepped down. I hope he takes this time to reflect and grow and change.
 
Orlu said:
Honest question, can somebody please point me to those angry mobs that everyone is talking about here, because I still haven't seen any? All responses I have seen so far is what feels like 95% full support for CH and 5% people that are disappointed in him and would like him to at least apologize.
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Just to share for awareness - on the Teammates discord channel, the first comment when sharing CH's tweet was "WE DID IT!". A number of comments there and elsewhere have implied that CH should have to sell his shares in the company he built due to the tweet. The YT video shared earlier in the thread, if you've watched it, wouldn't be categorized as a simple expression of disappointment. Some people seem to be out for revenge more than growth and understanding.

Putting CH and his tweet to the side for a second, it's a little alarming to see this type of response because for those of us that want to be better allies to marginalized communities (including the trans community), we'd like to achieve that through better personal understanding, not through fear of retribution or by being shamed.

However, it seems like there's a small sliver of perspective that is acceptable and even dipping a toe anywhere else on the spectrum is seen to be blasphemous. Daring to ask questions or appearing open to simply listening to a multitude of viewpoints is viewed as "typical TERF behavior or transphobic" (as stated in the video - maybe not his intent, but that's what came across to me).

It's very us vs. them. And unfortunately that sort of stance pushes would-be allies into the shadows - which then makes it harder to achieve the progress and change in mindsets and laws that would benefit the marginalized community.
 
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