Topic: Attn Modarrt - reverse engineering warning
Hope I'm not being over dramatic but I thought you should be aware of a post made on the Pianoworld forums here
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthre...noteq.html
Hope I'm not being over dramatic but I thought you should be aware of a post made on the Pianoworld forums here
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthre...noteq.html
I'd be interested to hear Modartt's reaction to the assertion that PTQ uses samples for certain aspects of the sound, hammer strike and damper noises etc.
I was under the impression that PTQ was entirely modelled.
I wouldn't be surprised at ALL if the "action" sounds ARE sampled (mono FLAC would be a good choice, obviously!), because I'd prefer that Pianoteq focus the actual computation resources on producing the piano's string and resonance sounds. Why waste processor cycles on the same "sustain pedal noise" and "hammer noise" over and over again when these sounds don't really change?
That may well be true, I'm not judging one way or the other.
Just to be clear the bulk of the above post is quoting another thread on another forum posted by another person, I just wanted to make Modartt aware that someone was dissecting their application.
Hi,
We have always stated that the mechanical noises were generated from samples. The piano sound is computed from the model. BazC, I have removed one link from your post as the said mechanical noise samples are owned by us and their distribution is not allowed.
I don't see anything wrong in looking at the contents of an EXE file which is free to download. It's almost the same as looking in a ZIP file or in the application folder content for an application. I bet you BazC were the guy who told your teachers your classmates were smoking in the toilets
Think what you like, this guy has decrypted PRESOURCES.DAT and written a tool to extract FLAC files. Hardly just looking inside the .exe file in my opinion.
If I were Modartt I'd want to know about this.
Thanks for the info Julien!
That may well be true, I'm not judging one way or the other.
Oh, I wasn't worried that you were saying, "How DARE they use samples!!!" in this instance. I know that you were simply saying, "Hey, fellas, check out this attempt to dissect Pianoteq!"
That post is a weird attempt to create a "conspiracy theory," frankly -- I just about died from laughter when I realized this fool was trying to "prove" Pianoteq used a few sample snippets, albeit for relatively-mundane purposes. What a waste of time...
I don't see anything wrong in looking at the contents of an EXE file which is free to download. It's almost the same as looking in a ZIP file or in the application folder content for an application. I bet you BazC were the guy who told your teachers your classmates were smoking in the toilets
Uh, NO -- the demo does NOT give ANYONE the right to gut it for information. It is not "free" just because it is "free to download."
Proceeding to publish the gutted information in a public forum compounds the error enormously.
This is less like "smoking in the toilets" and more like mugging some poor kid in a bathroom stall -- then bragging about it and showing the money which was robbed.
Think what you like, this guy has decrypted PRESOURCES.DAT and written a tool to extraxt FLAC files. Hardly just looking inside the .exe file in my opinion.
If I were Modartt I'd want to know about this.
You're darn right they would -- this "hacking" goes WAY beyond a taking a gentle "peek" at Pianoteq's inner-workings.
OK, I agree, especially the part with publishing a file with the FLAC files on the Internet prohibits 1.1(g) of the EULA:
"Separation of Components. Pianoteq Trial is licensed as a single product. Its component parts may not be separated."
The part where you observe the content of the EXE file may not be considered reverse enginnering, because depending on the law that could mean also decompilation and/or disassembly and in this case it's only a decompression of an archive but that's up to the law.
However, where is it stated officially that Pianoteq is using samples for the piano noises? I didn't know that and I made a search for that information and can't see it. It would be misleading to tell people it's all modeled while it's not.
CyberGene,
We informed already from the very beginning in August 2006 that there are samples for mechanical noises. This has never been a secret.
Anyone still doubting can have a look here.
Optional sampled noises in Pianoteq are also mentioned in many since long available articles and webpages, such as:
http://www.musicmarketing.ca/products/pianoteq.asp
http://www.catalog.sonic8.com/benelux/i...noteq.html
http://www.plugorama.com/customer/produ...ductid=568
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Audio/Pianoteq.shtml
http://www.samash.com/p/Pianoteq-Virtua..._-49971605
http://www.macmusic.org/software/view.p...2/Pianoteq
Regards,
Niclas
(thread closed - if any further questions, please contact us directly via email, thank you)