Deprecated: mysql_connect(): The mysql extension is deprecated and will be removed in the future: use mysqli or PDO instead in /storage/content/49/145849/famitracker.com/public_html/forum/classes/dbHandler.php on line 29
FamiTracker
Hello! New to tracking, and am really enjoying FamiTracker.
I'm working on a comercial project at the moment and would like to use FamiTracker, but before I can do that I was wondering if there are any licensing restrictions that I should be aware of first?
Are the sounds being triggered by FamiTracker property of Nintendo? Or are they simply recreated/emulated to sound like the NES? Also, if they are recreations, what if any licensing restrictions would there be for using FamiTracker in a commercial setting?
Other than that, thanks for the great program, and thanks in advance for your time.
You're free to use your own tunes however you see fit.
_______________________
Follow me on [url=https://twitter.com/jrlepage2a03]Twitter.
I record (some) NSFs on hardware. Feel free to [url=http://www.famitracker.com/forum/posts.php?id=3633]request a hardware render.
The NES produces sounds with very simple synthesis techniques, which are not copyrightable. They may be patentable, but any patents would be expired by now (and I doubt there ever were any).
FamiTracker is under the GNU GPL, so it couldn't impose any restrictions on what you do with the music. If you export the music as NSF, however, things get slightly more complicated because the NSF includes a bit of software called the NSF driver, which is an NES program that plays the song.
The NSF driver is meant to be "public domain", if I recall correctly, thus there are still no restrictions. But I think jsr really should put it under a proper license like the MIT license, since many countries don't allow you to release something into the public domain. (Thus, making something "public domain" actually grants fewer rights than using a proper license.)
Hi benatural.
You are free to use the music anyway you wish! As mentioned, GPL doesn't limit usage of stuff created with GPL software in any way.
furrykef: It's correct that the NSF driver code isn't GPL (because I think that would be too limiting), but it's not really public domain either. Actually I'm not sure how to license it, some people have been asking and then I usually say do what you want but give some credit. Perhaps including a small notice mentioning this would be a good idea? I will also check the MIT license.
The MIT license has one restriction, which is that its notice must appear in the software. You may notice a lot of commercial software/games these days have a section in a credit roll for accumulated licensing garbage text like this. That's not exactly appropriate for an NES release.
I actually assumed the NSF driver was GPL, which has the restriction that you have to release full source to your project, which is [url=http://rainwarrior.ca/music/moon8romsrc.zip]what I did. This implies that you can't legally prevent anyone from building their own copy of your software, but it doesn't stop you from trying to sell it anyway.
The Apache license is probably the simplest license for free software, but if you want something specific/simple you might be better off just stating what you require of others, rather than trying to adopt some existing overworked/complicated license.
Ah ok I should've been more clear about licensing then, being forced to release the source was the reason I refrained from GPL in this case. Though if you want to keep MOON8 as GPL then that's fine with me. Nice work on it btw!
MIT might not be ideal then, so perhaps a small notice that pretty much everything is allowed would be better. Also, giving credits is more of a recommended thing to do rather than something forced (but I can't see why anyone wouldn't).
) 