Sampling from a digital ROM synthesizer may be illegal because the ROM samples themselves are copyrighted

Analog synthesizers generate sound through circuitry; recordings of their output are original. Digital ‘ROM’ synthesizers play back samples stored in read-only memory — the PCM waveforms in that ROM are a copyrightable creative work owned by the manufacturer. Recording audio output of a ROM synth at the sample level (i.e. playing a single unprocessed factory wave) may constitute copying that copyrighted ROM content. This is distinct from ‘virtual analog’ synthesizers, which model analog circuitry digitally and whose output is original even if the engine is digital. Iconic examples of ROM-based drum machines — Roland TR-707, TR-909 cymbals and hi-hats, Linn Drum, Boss DR-550 — are explicitly called out by Freesound as sources not to sample from. User-created patches on digital synths are generally safe; factory preset packs sold separately may not be.

Examples

Safe: recording a Minimoog, a Moog Subsequent, or a self-designed patch on a software analog emulation. Potentially infringing: sampling the ride cymbal from a stock TR-909 ROM patch, or lifting waveforms from a Korg Wavestation’s factory ROM.

Assessment

A producer wants to upload a Freesound sound made by sampling the hi-hat from a stock Roland TR-909 patch. Is this permissible? Explain why or why not. Now explain why the same producer creating a custom patch on a digital softsynth that models analog circuits would have no issue.