SoundSketcher

Terms of use

The rules for using SoundSketcher and for sharing sketches with the community, in plain words.

Who we are

SoundSketcher is a free research and teaching tool developed at the School of Music Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. For anything about these terms, write to kvelenis@gmail.com. It is offered for learning, creative work and research, as it is, while the project runs.

Using SoundSketcher

  • You can use SoundSketcher without an account. With a free account you keep your sounds and sketches; each kind of account has its own limits (storage, number of sketches, exports).
  • To create an account you must be at least 15 years old, or use SoundSketcher with the consent of a parent or guardian, or under a teacher's supervision.
  • Please do not try to get round the limits, overload the service, collect its content automatically, or get into other people's accounts.

Your sounds and sketches

  • What you upload and make stays yours. It is private to your account unless you choose to publish it.
  • We store and analyse it only to run the service for you: to show you your files, draw and play your sketches, and make the exports you ask for.
  • Only upload sounds you are allowed to use. Keep your own copies: this is a research service, and we cannot promise that files will never be lost.

Publishing to the community

  • Publishing a sketch is always your choice. You publish a copy of the sketch as it is at that moment; later changes become public only when you update it.
  • A published sketch shows its title, its description and the pseudonym you choose, never your name or email.
  • Sketches appear in the community after the team has looked at them. We may decline or remove a sketch, especially if it breaks these terms.
  • Licence: you publish the sketch (the drawing, your marks and its settings) under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may view it, remix it and reuse it, as long as they credit you by your pseudonym.
  • The original sound is published only if you confirm that you made it or have the right to share it (for example a sound under a free licence, whose source and licence you then name). Otherwise only the drawing and its sonification are published.
  • Remix: others can open a copy of a published sketch in their own account and change it. A remix always shows the sketch it came from and its creator.
  • You can unpublish a sketch at any time: it leaves the community and its link stops working. Because CC BY cannot be withdrawn, remixes that others made before that stay, still crediting you.
  • The team may feature published sketches, for example on the home page, in workshops, talks and research papers, always crediting the creator.

What not to publish

  • Sounds or images you have no right to share, for example commercial music.
  • Recordings of people who have not agreed to it, such as private conversations, or other people's personal information.
  • Anything illegal, hateful, harassing or sexually explicit, and advertising or spam.

Anyone can report a published sketch with the Report button; the team looks at every report. If you believe a sketch uses your work without permission, report it or write to us at kvelenis@gmail.com, and we will remove it while we look into it.

Deleting your account

When you delete your account, your files, your sketches and your published sketches are removed. Remixes that others made stay, crediting your pseudonym.

No guarantees

SoundSketcher is a research project, offered free and as it is. Features may change, and the service may be interrupted or end. As far as the law allows, we are not responsible for loss of data or for any harm from using it.

Changes

If we change these terms, we will show it here with a new date, and tell account holders before important changes apply. These terms are governed by Greek law.

How we handle your data is explained on the Privacy page.

Last updated: 23 October 2026