Hey guys I'm curious if anyone knows where you can purchase instrument samples that can be legitimately be used in Nintendo DS development. The DS has no builtin soundbanks so you have to create custom instrument banks of about 2-3 samples per instrument. Purchasing soundfonts online seems like a good option because they give you the right to convert the files and load them into your own samplers i.e. legitimate access to the wav files... However with the DS, you're technically redistributing the WAV files - even though they're not accessible by anyone other than the composer and solely used for MIDI music playback. Has anyone overcome this issue when developing custom soundbanks for commercial games? Any sources or websites for purchasing royalty free instrument samples? Thanks so much David

i'm interested in picking up some soundfont libraries - they are classified as 'for commercial use excluding distribution'

I wonder if putting the WAV files from a soundfont on a gamecart would be considered distribution for the following points.

1) only readable
2) no one has access or can see , view, manipulate the WAV files
3) only the composer has access to the samples, on his computer, before he archives them with the music
4) sole purpose is to play back original music

is it really distribution? yes the files are there. but not in any obtainable way.

Quote: Original post by davidjfranco
i'm interested in picking up some soundfont libraries - they are classified as 'for commercial use excluding distribution'
I wonder if putting the WAV files from a soundfont on a gamecart would be considered distribution

yes, you are putting the whole of the sound sample data on media you are selling.

Quote:
for the following points.

1) only readable

and therefore copyable.

Quote:
2) no one has access or can see , view, manipulate the WAV files

They can be dumped from the cartridge to a computer. And if they are really wave format files or soundfont files, there are convenient file headers to look for.

Quote:
3) only the composer has access to the samples, on his computer, before he archives them with the music

They would be "archived" if they were in your backup copy at home, not in a distributed game.

Quote:
4) sole purpose is to play back original music

Laws and contracts deal with facts, not with purpose; you are distributing copies regardless of their purpose.

I think you should contact the copyright holders of the samples you plan to use and negotiate a license for the specific use of putting them in a game.
Plans B is rendering your music to big audio files, leaving the samples in your studio (assuming the allowed "commercial use" includes distributing music, which you should ask your lawyer).
Plan C is not using samples you bought at all, but only those you made yourself from scratch.