Hi! Newbie question again. As a beginner producer (not commercial yet aside live gigs occasionally) I was wondering… Is it ethical to use fragments or parts of the A4/Rytm factory patterns, kits? Some of them are so on point and gives me easy and creative start for a song. Example: there is a “DATAMEMO” kit and pattern on A4 to which I added an TR-09 drum machine and some external effects. Tweaked the sounds but after all, this song of “mine” contains 40-50% of the factory song. I was wondering if anyone does this. Ofc the best would be if I start everything from scratch all the time. Also, how’s the trademark side?
Just do it. Don’t worry about using the presets provided. Have fun and create. No copyright issues to be concerned about.
1 Like
phibmo
3
You do you! Even if that you is someone who uses presets. Have fun! Learn!
If you are worried about it maybe have a look at this… right at the start 
1 Like
reeloy
5
…u might wanna ask such a question for the next hottest plugin…
but on hardware, using presets is no sin…and when it comes to elektron, it’s the best starting point at first anyways…
for ur a4, i hardly suggest u download all for free sound pax available there…and might wanna listen into some of the pay ware, too…at least the drum sounds created by skinnerbox is a must have for ur a4…
of course it would be a pity and a great oppertunity missed out on, if u never start creating ur own sounds with it…but for now and all essential edges to lay out at first, never worry to use presets on any hw device…most of ur picks will start to sonically shapeshift along ur workflow anyways…
but hey…agreed…if all next new gen of bedroom producers would hesitate to use prefab elements like u, the world would be a better/more intresting/more colourful place for sure… 
2 Likes
Presets, no question, use them. Patterns, I would try to make a good-faith effort to tweak and/or augment. For “occasional live gigs” it’s probably fine. There are any number of DJs who basically play other people’s music with a bit of crossfading and filtering. Technically they should be paying royalties but so should every tiny coffee shop that has a smartphone playlist, and neither do. I would think that, as a matter of personal growth and pride, you might want to move towards original material, but you don’t need to rush, or agonize on the way there.
May I ask where can I find this Skinmerbox pack?
It’s ethical but is it actually going to represent you in the best possible way? If the answer is yes, then I wouldn’t stop myself. Personally I wouldn’t want to use a preset or pattern that other people have access to because I want my music to be more unique than that. I usually wipe the contents of any machine I get so I’m starting “clean.”
But there are no ethics involved in the decision, it’s really just an artistic choice. A lot of great songs have been made using preset drum loops.
reeloy
9
…last time i checked, that skinnerbox drum/percussion sound pack was easy to find on the elektron website, where they offer all sorts of presets for their various machines as downloads…
just go there for downloads/presets/a4…
but be warned…u’ll need latest firmware and version of transfer to be able to feed such downloads to ur a4…
and what maymind_trax said is defenitly truu for all sorts of mass products…for boutique hardware not so much…but sure, don’t start using also the preset/example patterns u’ll find on ur a4…then ur just puzzeling around instead of making music…like way too many others out there…
There tends to be an elitist, holier-than-thou attitude from some when it comes to using presets but that always strikes me as a sort of barely concealed dick-swinging- like, starting all your synth patches from init stage means you deserve a f**king medal or something… Presets are great, I nearly always use them as a jumping-off point and/or as a way to get a feel of how a synth works. I’d steer clear of using anything from the preset patterns/factory songs tho, as that is the bit that you really are meant to be coming up with yourself…
1 Like
