as most of us are aware, synthedit has made a significant contribution to the world of vst. one of the integral features of synthedit is the sdk, which allows for third party modules.

chris kerry (that CK you see on .seps and people's t-shirts and perfumes) is one of the top prolific sdk coders, significant for both quality and quantity of his contributions, moreover because he codes his modules in assembly, making them more efficient than c++ coding.

chris has a simple license agreement: if you release a vst with a CK module, either shoot him a donation, or include two short lines in the 'about' box..

This VST/i features modules by Chris Kerry
www.chriskerry.f9.co.uk

what could be more reasonable?

--

whether by intent or accident, a number se devs have not met this condition and have not responded to his requests, so chris has pulled his module collection until they do.

as such, devs and vsti users alike have all lost a significant resource. like many things, it's a pathetic travesty reflecting upon the state of culture et c.

the way i see it, there are two things we can do about it.

(1) check your vst folder.. if you have a se vst that uses .sep modules, there will be a folder inside your vstplugins folder with the name of that plug-in..

..if any of the .seps inside that folder have a CK in the title, check the 'about' box of the vst by right clicking on the gui. if no credit appears, tell US about it, because it's time for a web-lynchin' boyo, for reals.

(2) some of you make decent money, you know who you are. just as a token of goodwill, swing by this url and pop a few notes for chris via paypal, and label it 'support for devs' or something. if we can't sort out the bad, at least we can demonstrate that we're not all out to screw him.

donate url:
http://www.chriskerry.f9.co.uk/CK_Donate.html

'kay? cheers, you lot.

A very thoughtful post, xoxos. I'll make sure I check up on my SE plugs when I get home.

xoxos wrote:

chris has a simple license agreement: if you release a vst with a CK module, either shoot him a donation, or include two short lines in the 'about' box.. This VST/i features modules by Chris Kerry www.chriskerry.f9.co.uk what could be more reasonable?

So how do I know whether the dev dropped CK some cash to buy out of the credit requirement..? I don't feel happy "naming names" where some may be innocent and decent people who're willing to pay for their gear. (I am running an audit, though.)

<edit>
All my installed SE plugs are freeware and all that use CK .SEPs credit Chris.
</edit>

check them with chris. if he won't clear them, please.. name the names.. many people are charging for se plugs now, wouldn't you feel more comfortable doing business with someone who has a modicum of respect?

it's such a simple thing to do, it's silly really.. but when you force the hand, it's time to learn about it.

I was on Chris Kerry's site last night, after deciding to renew my acquaintence with SE.
This is sad news. The CK modules were a major extention to SE.
Xoxos, if you're in touch with Chris, send him a message of support from the K-v-R forum.

I have one such VSTi, but don't want to name it until I can look into it. Now what is the best way to contact Chris? using an e-mail at his site? The only one I found was for bug reports.

The plugin I have doesn't show an about box with a right click - is it possible for SE developers to suppress the about box?

Edit: By the way, this dev thanks Chris Kerry at his download location. I know this isn't exactly in keeping with the license, though.

By the way...
...any chance to find once synthedit on mac ?

...i've seen tons of pretty GUIs, but don't know what i've lost , really !

I'm not sure if this is the correct email to use for this purpose but the only email addy I can find for Chris Kerry is this ck_modules at chriskerry.f9.co.uk

I will be sending an email to chris myself, I do not as yet have any SE synths up on the web but I do use them in some of my own stuff. I want to donate to because I use them and I want to keep up the development of these modules. The fact I have nothing currently on the web that uses them is irrelevant to me. I urge others who use the modules for their own, unpublished stuff to consider this.

I will be sending an email to chris to get some Idea of what he considers to be a fair amount. I'm not doing this just so I can find out the minimum I can pay, if I wanted to do that I could just donate a pound and would that would fulfil the criteria of his license. I think the modules he has created are brilliant and I want him to carry on developing for SE.

xoxos is right, we need to support people like Chris and the countless others.

I think it is important that people are rewarded, even if it is just by a simple credit.

jic the email you signed up with is old, ezeeboogie, could you please edit your post to remove the @ from chris' email? if you don't, next virus/bot that comes along will send chris thousands of emails..

always put *at* or something instead of the @ when you put an email addy on a webpage or archived mailing list..

xoxos; when did this happen, and did something specific trigger it or did Chris finally just get completely pissed off?

this isn't the first time - they've been offline for short periods to bear pressure on this or that violation, but this is certainly the longest time; ~2 weeks now? and unfortunately, the offenders have not been identified in this case so it is a matter of whatever 'conscience' these individuals possess.

as i'm sure you know, i absolutely support chris in his response, even as my own loss. imo it's hilarious that for once, somebody is willing to act on a moral ground :p i mean, who nowadays expects their transgressions to have consequences?

xoxos wrote:

chris kerry (that CK you see on .seps and people's t-shirts and perfumes)

whyterabbyt wrote:

xoxos; when did this happen, and did something specific trigger it or did Chris finally just get completely pissed off?

It happened some time last week. Chris didn't offer specifics, but stated that several license abusers were found and notified, but had failed to reply to him. Pulled them in disgust.

My guess is that some of the infringers were commercial plugins, which, judging from past comments from Chris, really seems to piss him off.

I'm saddened by the absence of his modules, but the man's got every reason to yank them. It's such a simple license to follow. Either arrogance or stupidity or both the only reasons not to abide.

Cheers,
Steve

I'm saddened by the absence of his modules, but the man's got every reason to yank them. It's such a simple license to follow. Either arrogance or stupidity or both the only reasons not to abide.

Yup, especially since he's been given hassle so many times by folk who think they had the right to demand that his license suited their needs.

The sad thing is that these people already have the modules, so pulling them will only hurt new coders.

So, how about a good round of public embarrasment for these offenders. Or maybe Chris should just post their work on his site, claim it as his own, and give it away.

Robert

whyterabbyt wrote:

Yup, especially since he's been given hassle so many times by folk who think they had the right to demand that his license suited their needs.

During the last round of that battle, I was rather suprised that Chris added the donate for credit removal clause. A rather conciliatory jesture, I thought.

And yet the abusers still persist. Sad in so many ways.

This is a good initiative, I hope you get the bastards! I have some SE-plugs but all name him or David when they use their modules. But I only have SE-freeware.

BTW> If I read the licence that is now on Chris' site, it nowhere says it has to be in the about-box:

Quote:

If no donation is made for the use of this module in each VST/i, the following credit must be displayed:-

Maybe some people just credit him on their website or in a readme.txt which comes with the synth. I advise Chris that if he wants it mentioned in the about-box, he must explicit say so.

Although I think it's childisch to use his modules and try to keep it a secret..

I advise Chris that if he wants it mentioned in the about-box, he must explicit say so.

He's always explicitly said so (well until the pay-to-not-display thing), as far as I recall. And folk bitched about it...

whyterabbyt wrote:

He's always explicitly said so (well until the pay-to-not-display thing), as far as I recall. And folk bitched about it...

If that's so, and Chris wants that, I would even more advise him to say so in his license agreement. Not every Syntheditor reads the Yahoo List.. The folks bitching about the license (one if I recall) wanted to be able to use his modules without any credit at all. Hence the donation..
Don't get me wrong, I don't say people who credit him wrong do a good thimng, but maybe the license is somehow unclear..

If this module is used in a VST/i please donate at www.chriskerry.f9.co.uk
If no donation is made for the use of this module in each VST/i, the following credit must be displayed:-

I don't think this sounds unclear.

Midiworks wrote:

If no donation is made for the use of this module in each VST/i, the following credit must be displayed:- I don't think this sounds unclear.

The point was: displayed where? On the vst-skin, in a textfile or only on a website? It isn't clear..

Just so noone assumes anything (not that you were) I feel like pointing out that the Superwave company does conform to the guidlines. Cheerz.

(no I don't work for them, I am an owner)

"in each VST/i"

Not clear ?