Is Synth1 libre software?

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Hey guys,

I have committed to using free(dom respecting) software only for music production. When reading tutorials and guides on-line, I've always wondered whether the well-known, free-to-download "Synth1" VST plugin is free or not.

Could you help me figure that out? Here's what seems to be the official website: https://daichilab.sakura.ne.jp/softsynth/index.html. It's in Japanese.

Many thanks in advance.
Stay safe,
Mirko.
First off, Welcome to the Forum MirkoDiTV !
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MirkoDiTV wrote:
Sat Jun 11, 2022 12:55 pm
is free-to-download "Synth1" VST plugin is free or not.
I have NO idea what is written on the page, but Synth1 is free, but not open source -afaik.
You can try and contact the synth1 SoMe groups on twitter FB or similar, and ask them for formal License information. Synth1 is is no longer in development
Hey,
When you say "Libre," what do you mean? Technically, libre software would just means free software. So, on a Windows computer, even MS-Office can be considered free (assuming you already have windows of course!) [:
The thing is, Synth1 doesn't have source code anywhere. But there is a LOT of explanatory code to the VST on the Daichi Labs website.
Usually, when individuals or groups create free non-OSS software, well...
I've seen instances myself, where devs made an application open-source, but its code started getting used without them being credited, and they were obviously disappointed because their hours, days, months worth of hardwork was just being picked up like only OSS software could be picked up, and used elsewhere in a few minutes' worth of effort, without as much of a mention that the code isn't even their own. They chose not to close the source code again, but after that they started adding only bugfixes to the open version of the code and features to only the closed version which they released binaries with.
What I'm trying to say, Mirko, is that, I completely understand your love for FOSS, but am requesting you to think about your reasons for this choice. LMMS is popular, and it is lucky that way. A majority of the spin-offs will mention it, fear-reason because there is an actual chance their code or workflow might be noticed by someone familiar with LMMS, and pointed out; you can't rely on sheer altruism and "goodness of people" in the real world internet. It would possibly be helpful for you to not be quite as specific about what you're allowing yourself to use. Because then, you are- practically speaking- closing yourself off from a lot of options like Synth1, Oatmeal, and other extremely versatile modules; you are also- prudentially speaking- assuming everyone can and is willing to let their source code be open.
It's like a painting but your signature is somewhere at a corner in a blank square, FOSS is. Sometimes people taking a picture will include the signature, sometimes they'll crop it out. If it's the Mona Lisa, then not many people who happen to see art in that style mistake it for someone else's painting other than Leonardo DaVinci. But if it's something more obscure?
But if your reasoning for FOSS is lack of spyware... even foss can have spyware, see where Firefox is going. Do you check the source code to ensure there's no spyware?

Either ways, whatever you choose, all the best on your musical journey. There is a lot ahead of you.
It may interest you to know Ardour is open source but its Windows binaries are paid- you can get binaries for free on Linux, but need to build it yourself if you want it on Windows for free.

My preferred Synth of choice (max versatility of sound with minimum CONFUSION involved) is Oatmeal, and Fuzzpilz is probably far too dead (or maybe retired for a few years, can't be sure) to open his source code to us.

TL;DR:
No, Synth1 is not free. If you are looking for a synth which is "libre," for FOSS, you are limited to ZynAddSubFX (which LMMS includes as a native plugin); and non-free open source things which need to be manually built, like ZynFusion. There are FOSS plugins like Vital and Helm, but these have more options, and sometimes more power means lesser power. Sticking to OSS could hurt you, beware.
Free software as Richard Stallman sees it, has nothing to do with it having to be free as in price.

He wants however everybody to be able to see the source code, and more important, be free to modify it.

The Linux license is like this, BUT although your allowed to do what ever with the code, you should always mention were you got the code from.

He also said this was an english language problem. Free can mean freedom but also free as in price.

At least in my native language, dutch, there are two different words for this English free.

So you can make a program for Linux and ask money for it. :)
Free software as Richard Stallman sees it, has nothing to do with it having to be free as in price.

He wants however everybody to be able to see the source code, and more important, be free to modify it.

The Linux license is like this, BUT although your allowed to do what ever with the code, you should always mention were you got the code from.

He also said this was an english language problem. Free can mean freedom but also free as in price.

At least in my native language, dutch, there are two different words for this English free.

So you can make a program for Linux and ask money for it. :)
Absolutely correct!
Just as I'm able to see what's inside, let's say, car engines that I buy and study their inner workings, I must also be able to study how a computer program works. And that has absolutely nothing to do with price. The fact that I can see how a car engine works doesn't necessarily mean that the seller won't be able to profit off of it.

Hey,
When you say "Libre," what do you mean? Technically, libre software would just means free software. So, on a Windows computer, even MS-Office can be considered free (assuming you already have windows of course!) [:
By libre, I meant free software that's free as in freedom, or, as some people call it, "open source", but I usually avoid using that term, because it's really not just about the source code, it's about the freedom that derives from being in possess of it :D.

But if your reasoning for FOSS is lack of spyware... even foss can have spyware, see where Firefox is going. Do you check the source code to ensure there's no spyware?

Either ways, whatever you choose, all the best on your musical journey. There is a lot ahead of you.
It may interest you to know Ardour is open source but its Windows binaries are paid- you can get binaries for free on Linux, but need to build it yourself if you want it on Windows for free.
Spyware is not the only reason I'm afraid of using proprietary software for, and you're totally right. Even projects like Audacity have turned into Facebook-like spyware. Usually though, you don't need to check a program's source code to know whether it's spyware or not. There's a lot of people that do that for you, already. Again, see the Audacity scandal: everybody was talking about it a few months ago! So yeah, it's way easier to find out that a free (FLOSS) program is spyware that it is with non-free software (again, I'm not talking about price here, but about freedom and source code availability).

Thank you mate. I like Ardour, but I'll stick with LMMS for now. I really am enjoying it.

Sticking to OSS could hurt you, beware.
I don't necessarily agree with what you stated here. Many proprietary synths have a lot of options too, and they can seem a bit complicated to the end user. But that's ok in my opinion, we all have to learn new things from time to time. Computers aren't supposed to be simple. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they shouldn't be; I'm saying that when they aren't, it'd be lazy of us to not get out of our way to learn something new (if that's what we want).

And by the way, check out https://www.niallmoody.com/ndcplugs/plugins.htm. Not all, but many of per plugins are free (as in freedom), and still, some have like 3 to 4 sliders, and that's it. If you like simple interfaces without too many options, you should try some of these out.

I've seen instances myself, where devs made an application open-source, but its code started getting used without them being credited, and they were obviously disappointed because their hours, days, months worth of hardwork was just being picked up like only OSS software could be picked up, and used elsewhere in a few minutes' worth of effort, without as much of a mention that the code isn't even their own.
I totally agree with you. It's not nice when individuals, or even worse, Big Tech companies, steal your code and make money to burn while you don't make a dollar. That's why licenses like the GPL exist: when somebody uses your code, per will have to make their program free/libre/"open source", too (and this is called "copyleft", lol). When you use these, you can see third parties' improvements and/or changes to your code and re-implement those. So it's like a code exchange.

Code: Select all

I give you code, you give me code
(and we all get to keep our essential freedoms).

I have NO idea what is written on the page, but Synth1 is free, but not open source -afaik.
That's the answer I was looking for. Really a shame that such a good plugin is not libre.
Not that big of a deal, I've had fun with Helm so far. I'm looking forward to getting Monique (https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/monique-monosynth) to work on GNU/Linux using its DLL file.

You can try and contact the synth1 SoMe groups on twitter FB or similar, and ask them for formal License information. Synth1 is is no longer in development
Guess I'll give that a try and let you guys now.


Long live ZynAddSubFX and free software.
Thank you all for your interest in my post :D. God bless.
MirkoDiTV wrote:
Sun Jun 12, 2022 5:58 pm
Free software as Richard Stallman sees it, has nothing to do with it having to be free as in price.

He wants however everybody to be able to see the source code, and more important, be free to modify it.

The Linux license is like this, BUT although your allowed to do what ever with the code, you should always mention were you got the code from.

He also said this was an english language problem. Free can mean freedom but also free as in price.

At least in my native language, dutch, there are two different words for this English free.

So you can make a program for Linux and ask money for it. :)
Absolutely correct!
Just as I'm able to see what's inside, let's say, car engines that I buy and study their inner workings, I must also be able to study how a computer program works. And that has absolutely nothing to do with price. The fact that I can see how a car engine works doesn't necessarily mean that the seller won't be able to profit off of it.

Hey,
When you say "Libre," what do you mean? Technically, libre software would just means free software. So, on a Windows computer, even MS-Office can be considered free (assuming you already have windows of course!) [:
By libre, I meant free software that's free as in freedom, or, as some people call it, "open source", but I usually avoid using that term, because it's really not just about the source code, it's about the freedom that derives from being in possess of it :D.

But if your reasoning for FOSS is lack of spyware... even foss can have spyware, see where Firefox is going. Do you check the source code to ensure there's no spyware?

Either ways, whatever you choose, all the best on your musical journey. There is a lot ahead of you.
It may interest you to know Ardour is open source but its Windows binaries are paid- you can get binaries for free on Linux, but need to build it yourself if you want it on Windows for free.
Spyware is not the only reason I'm afraid of using proprietary software for, and you're totally right. Even projects like Audacity have turned into Facebook-like spyware. Usually though, you don't need to check a program's source code to know whether it's spyware or not. There's a lot of people that do that for you, already. Again, see the Audacity scandal: everybody was talking about it a few months ago! So yeah, it's way easier to find out that a free (FLOSS) program is spyware that it is with non-free software (again, I'm not talking about price here, but about freedom and source code availability).

Thank you mate. I like Ardour, but I'll stick with LMMS for now. I really am enjoying it.

Sticking to OSS could hurt you, beware.
I don't necessarily agree with what you stated here. Many proprietary synths have a lot of options too, and they can seem a bit complicated to the end user. But that's ok in my opinion, we all have to learn new things from time to time. Computers aren't supposed to be simple. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they shouldn't be; I'm saying that when they aren't, it'd be lazy of us to not get out of our way to learn something new (if that's what we want).

And by the way, check out https://www.niallmoody.com/ndcplugs/plugins.htm. Not all, but many of per plugins are free (as in freedom), and still, some have like 3 to 4 sliders, and that's it. If you like simple interfaces without too many options, you should try some of these out.

I've seen instances myself, where devs made an application open-source, but its code started getting used without them being credited, and they were obviously disappointed because their hours, days, months worth of hardwork was just being picked up like only OSS software could be picked up, and used elsewhere in a few minutes' worth of effort, without as much of a mention that the code isn't even their own.
I totally agree with you. It's not nice when individuals, or even worse, Big Tech companies, steal your code and make money to burn while you don't make a dollar. That's why licenses like the GPL exist: when somebody uses your code, per will have to make their program free/libre/"open source", too (and this is called "copyleft", lol). When you use these, you can see third parties' improvements and/or changes to your code and re-implement those. So it's like a code exchange.

Code: Select all

I give you code, you give me code
(and we all get to keep our essential freedoms).

I have NO idea what is written on the page, but Synth1 is free, but not open source -afaik.
That's the answer I was looking for. Really a shame that such a good plugin is not libre.
Not that big of a deal, I've had fun with Helm so far. I'm looking forward to getting Monique (https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/monique-monosynth) to work on GNU/Linux using its DLL file.
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You can try and contact the synth1 SoMe groups on twitter FB or similar, and ask them for formal License information. Synth1 is is no longer in development
Guess I'll give that a try and let you guys now.


Long live ZynAddSubFX and free software.
Thank you all for your interest in my post :D. God bless.
I myself began to study this very recently.