Re: The GPL and soundfonts

[Walter Landry <wlandry@ucsd.edu>]

Terry Hancock <hancock@anansispaceworks.com> wrote:
> IMHO, the license of the sequencing software you used is completely
> irrelevant. You USE a toolchain when you create with it, you don't
> DERIVE from it (the exception being things like libraries -- or
> soundfonts -- that get incorporated into the resulting work).
> 
> So, the soundfont license needs to be very permissive, but I don't think
> there should be any concern about the tool used to create it.

The license of the sequencing software does matter.  If the sequencing
software is non-free, then the WAV files build-depend on a non-free
component.  It is the same as if you used a non-free compiler to
create an executable.  If the soundfonts are GPL compatible, that
would put the WAV's in contrib.

Cheers,
Walter Landry
wlandry@ucsd.edu