I'm currently teaching myself Flash game programming by making a bunch of simple Flash games. While this is primarily a learning exercise for ActionScript (Flash programming) I'd like to put in a little bit of polish in the form of sound effects, but I don't want to go overboard with the audio. Since I don't need anything fancy and I'm working on a MacBook Pro, I'm thinking the easiest solution would be to whip up a few bleeps in GarageBand. I really just need a few synthy notes or arppegios. GarageBand also has a simple sound effects library for pod-casts that would work well in games. However, I'm unsure as to the legality of using GarageBand in this way. I know GarageBand has the following term in its license for the loops:

Quote: You may use the Apple and third party audio loop content (Audio Content), contained in or otherwise included with the Apple Software, on a royalty-free basis, to create your own original music compositions or audio projects. You may broadcast and/or distribute your own music compositions or audio projects that were created using the Audio Content, however, individual audio loops may not be commercially or otherwise distributed on a standalone basis, nor may they be repackaged in whole or in part as audio samples, sound effects or music beds.

...which says I can't use the loops as individual sound effects. But it doesn't say anything about individual notes from their instruments or sound effects library. I'll effectively be making music compositions of only few notes each. There are plenty of other options available to me for sound effects - I can always record my own from my synthesiser keyboard and mix them up with Audacity - but since using GarageBand would be extremely painless I'd like to know if it's known to be acceptable to use it in this fashion. I haven't found much evidence from my own searches, and I'm not experienced in the nuances of legality with respect to audio engineering. Thanks in advance,

not a lawyer.
But,
The section that has you worried is typically the section that forbids any repackaging of the individual sounds - the distinction being that the sounds themselves are unmolested (not mixed). In other words, they are forbidding you from making a Refill plugin and distributing it, chopping the samples up and putting them up for download as sound effects, or making a sample CD for other people to use for their music.

The distinction is primarily of the notion of "the composition", which is what you get the right to distribute. Basically, as long as you are mixing the sounds on some way such that you are not simply passing along copies of their samples, you should be in the clear by those terms, because what you have there is now a composition, no longer a sample.

It's the notion of what constitutes a "composition" that I'm unsure of. I really just need a couple of musical notes for confirmations, a few clicks and noises that a drum kit can simulate approximately, and maybe things like applause or audience noises which GarageBand includes as part of its sound effects instrument set.

I think it's a bit iffy as to whether I could take a separate sound effect and use it on its own, but I'm not sure about an individual piano note for something like a "ding" sound effect. Or would two notes be acceptable ("da-ding"?)

The clause itself also refers to the loops, which are technically compositions in themselves. I'm not sure if that clause applies to the instrument sound generators or to the sound effects.

At the moment I think it's vague enough that I'll probably go with plugging in a recording unit to my synth keyboard and use that as my sample source, or go with remixing basic sine waves with Audacity. But I'm interested in the issue for the future, as some of those sound effects would be pretty neat to use.

If this really has you so worried, why dont you just google search for free sound effects? I'm sure you can find hundreds of free sounds that meet your described needs, your not asking for anything terribly hard to obtain.

I'm not really that worried, as I've got a bunch of alternatives available to me. I'm more interested in what options are available to me.

From my experience finding decent free sounds on the internet is more trouble than it's worth - ensuring it really is free to use can be tricky, and finding the right sound can be a pain. I find it quicker to just make my own by recording synth music sounds from my Casio keyboard and modifying them in Audacity. However it's a bit of pain to set up all the equipment to do that, so for very simple sounds using something like GarageBand would be a time saver.

But it's not really that much of an issue - I've already recorded the sound effects for my first game through the Casio. The question is now more for curiousity and future reference.

I think the easiest and safest thing to do would be to ask Apple, if you're worried.

The specific section there is basically meant to stop people redistributing the sample libraries. So as long as you don't do that, you're at least acting within the spirit of that section.

I'd go so far as to say that it's probably safe to just go ahead and do - even without the hassle of asking Apple. At worst you could get a letter from Apple saying "uh, no".

I have been in your situation (regarding the Reason sound library) - and I have used their samples as sound effects in games - but I did go so far as to "mix them up a bit". But I've got a good feeling that even that is not necessary.


I am not a lawyer, but my only-very-slightly-educated legal interpretation is that:
- Your game would count as an "Audio Project" and so can include the sounds
and
- Although they are being used as sound effects, they're not being repackaged (and sold/redistributed) as sound effects - you're selling (packaging) a computer game, not a sound effect library. As such, the "however" exception does not apply to you.

Yes, the spirit of the license is, DO use this in your own commercial projects, but DON'T use this to create works that replace or compete with this library.

Quote: Original post by Kylotan
Yes, the spirit of the license is, DO use this in your own commercial projects, but DON'T use this to create works that replace or compete with this library.

That's my interpretation too.

However it probably is best to ask someone at Apple if I can find the right person to contact.