Are artist presets proprietary?

rrhoads17

Inspired
Is there an NDA that is signed between Fractal and major artists such as Metallica, Def Leppard and John Petrucci that prevents Fractal from sharing their presets or settings? Seems like some artists, such as Steve Stevens, are more willing to share presets vs. others like Metallica and Def Lep.
 
Is there an NDA that is signed between Fractal and major artists such as Metallica, Def Leppard and John Petrucci that prevents Fractal from sharing their presets or settings? Seems like some artists, such as Steve Stevens, are more willing to share presets vs. others like Metallica and Def Lep.
I think of artists' presets as belonging to them and not up to someone else to share, NDA or not.
 
To be frank, the majority of the artists mentioned probably don’t care.
To assume and then find out otherwise is a bad business practice. It’s always better to have it in clear language on paper with signatures.

Having additional artist presets has been discussed many times and been commented on by @Cooper Carter and @Admin M@ among others, so a search will reveal the conversations.
 
have no clue, but would understand if they did not want them shared in order to protect their signature tones from being heard everywhere. With analogue gear the parts variations kind of assume some protection against exact copies but with modellers one unit reproduces exactly the same as any other so...
 
I would bet anything Metallica doesn’t fall into the “not caring” category…
What makes you say that? Use active pickups. Load and Reload is the simplest: Dual Rectifier set everything to noon and tweak a little. Early albums put a tube screamer in front of a Marshall. MoP use a Boogie 2C/Mark and scoop 750 and triple track it. Play around with a PEQ too for the black album: . Here's a pretty good video on some of their tones also:
 
have no clue, but would understand if they did not want them shared in order to protect their signature tones from being heard everywhere. With analogue gear the parts variations kind of assume some protection against exact copies but with modellers one unit reproduces exactly the same as any other so...
Right? I feel like everyone is so surprised that every artist using a fractal isn't just releasing their presets for the world to use, but I find it surprising that anyone at all has. At the pro level im sure a lot of time and money goes into making those, and even the ones that are released aren't copy and paste of their touring preset, it's usually just something they whipped up "in their style". It's easy for a bedroom player to not be able to fathom a single reason why artists don't release them, but try and look at it from the viewpoint of the people that use them to make their living. Intellectual property is incredibly valuable, and generally protected for a reason.
 
What makes you say that? Use active pickups. Load and Reload is the simplest: Dual Rectifier set everything to noon and tweak a little. Early albums put a tube screamer in front of a Marshall. MoP use a Boogie 2C/Mark and scoop 750 and triple track it. Play around with a PEQ too for the black album: . Here's a pretty good video on some of their tones also:

There’s a sharp difference between creating what you think sounds like their “sound”, and having the actual preset they use on their personal rigs. No one is arguing that you can’t achieve a precious era Metallica tone. We’re speaking to having the actual preset that Metallica is using live and/or in the studio (if they’re even using them for recording).
 
Well look at it this way in the days prior to Fractal. Not one artist I could recall was so hidden about the gear they were using. In fact they wanted to share their settings if you could get them to remember lol. Pro or not - just because you have someone’s preset doesn’t mean too much when it comes to music and I can’t argue s specific policy that might say they shouldn’t or should be shared however, it seems to be the trend to not share them. Most likely because creating presets entails more work than plugging in analogue equipment- maybe? It also has to do with the whole concept of “sound and audio engineering”. Those kinds of things are not generally shared. Pros have secrets. Lol. The guitar players / they probably don’t care.
 
Right? I feel like everyone is so surprised that every artist using a fractal isn't just releasing their presets for the world to use, but I find it surprising that anyone at all has. At the pro level im sure a lot of time and money goes into making those, and even the ones that are released aren't copy and paste of their touring preset, it's usually just something they whipped up "in their style". It's easy for a bedroom player to not be able to fathom a single reason why artists don't release them, but try and look at it from the viewpoint of the people that use them to make their living. Intellectual property is incredibly valuable, and generally protected for a reason.
Fair points. But alternatively, you get bit into the "I'll be giving you the keys to the Lamborghini" thing a bit with this.

99.99% of the folks that would be interested in having an actual artist preset wont go beyond posting some YouTube videos with it. In fact, most of them will go, "THATS what they use? Holy crap that sounds like $!%^@$!!" Will the guys in Trivium record their next album with Metallicas preset? Maybe. Would folks who love Metallica suddenly fall in love with Trivium all due to Metallica not protecting their settings? .....uhm, maybe? People have been sampling/trying to achieve the black albums drum tone for 30 years now. It's not really hurting anyones bottom line.

I think it mostly boils down to the quirky and neurotic nature of some artists and their view of their "trade secrets". Others give everything away freely and it's of zero detriment to their careers/sound. The only aspect I can kind of understand is at the level of Metallica where everyone wants something from you and nothing is truly yours (to the point where they're getting your tattoos) I can see keeping a tight hold on the things like this. James is this way about a lot of the designs on his personal guitars as well. Inlays, hardware, etc.
 
“Prevents them” from sharing an artists presets? ..Common decency, probably. Sharing a preset without permission is kinda the equivalent of pulling an authors latest draft off his laptop and posting it online because someone might find it interesting. I can’t imagine any professional company even entertaining the idea, and these guys at Fractal are nothing if not considerate of their client base.

I don’t know - just guessing, but I can certainly imagine that some of these big names require an NDA. There is a lot of time, effort, and what might be considered propriety sound tied up in these songs, these ‘final products’. Including a boatload of cash!

…having said that. Thanks Steve! :0) …My rendition of Rebel Yell is much better sounding for your generosity. :0). …And it is generous of him. Good guy! Can’t hold it against Any of these big names for not sharing though. I‘m always floored - and thankful, when these Big Names do share. I don’t expect it. And like somebody has said, most artists, I can imagine, dont care too much.

But ..too much money, too many lawyers and ownership considerations tied up in this music racket to not have any red tape binding up the works.
 
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