NoteWorthy Composer Forum

Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: thebluepriest on 2010-02-03 05:52 PM

Title: Legal Question
Post by: thebluepriest on 2010-02-03 05:52 PM
if you make something using NWC then can you use the midi you made for private/commercial use? Really all i want to do is use a sound effect from the original nwc (the gunshot use as an explosion in a flash game Im making), but i want to make sure thats legal and theres no steps I have to take for this.
Title: Re: Legal Question
Post by: William Ashworth on 2010-02-03 06:27 PM
The sound effects aren't from NWC. They're from your computer's sound card. NWC sound is MIDI output, which is simply a set of instructions to the computer to tap its own built-in bank of sounds in specific ways. There is a standard, called General MIDI (GM), which almost all sound cards subscribe to; but all GM does is tell the sound card manufacturer which type of sound to place at which patch number - not how to produce the sounds themselves. So the gunshot on your computer won't sound like the gunshot on mine (unless we have the same sound card); but as long as both cards are GM-compatible, both will sound reasonably like gunshots.

I don't know if this quick explanation is clear. The bottom line is that you have to check with the manufacturer of your sound card, not NWC, re copyright restrictions on the sounds your computer produces when playing NWC files.

HTH -

Bill
Title: Re: Legal Question
Post by: NoteWorthy Online on 2010-02-03 06:53 PM
NoteWorthy Composer does not assert any legal domain over the files that you create with the licensed version. They are your work product.
Title: Re: Legal Question
Post by: thebluepriest on 2010-02-03 07:19 PM
so that should mean that I can use them no problem them right?
Title: Re: Legal Question
Post by: William Ashworth on 2010-02-03 09:14 PM
The score - yes. The sound - depends on whether you want the actual sound, as a .wav file, or just the MIDI instructions to the user's computer to produce a GM sound. For MIDI instructions, no problem. For a .wav (or .au, or .wmp, or similar) file, you have to check with your sound card's manufacturer.