Jerry Stuckle wrote in news:m3nrfk$dii$1@dont-
email.me:

However, contract law can also prohibit some things; for
instance, most software licenses prohibit reverse engineering.

I will bo ok there. Not only can I not do it, I couldn't even compile,
even READ, the code of Hexter, one of the few programs (apart from Native
Instrument's FM7) that can be seen as a contender. I actually found Hexter's
code so utterly impenetrable that I got nothing. I never even fogured out
what changes and commands I'd have to use to compile it and run it!! Having
already dabbled in Win32 API and C I trawled the manuals to build MIDI and
audio generators, then a phase mode core, and never looked back. I was
already making my own way, so I just kept going. I listened to (and examined
recorded waveforms of) a Yamaha TX7, and did whatever it took to get audible
convergence in more detail than most people will ever want to hear. While I
was at it, I learned to do things even Yamaha had not done in the original,
or even in most later variants.