Hello everyone! The Cakewalk community is super knowledgeable about all aspects of the music and audio business, so I wanted to ask for your expertise. 

I'm working on the soundtrack for a small Android game, and the developer may want me to create some sound effects as well. I have no experience with making SFX, but I imagine it may be kind of fun to try. However, I don't have any tools specifically for creating SFX. My question is whether useing virtual musical instruments to create SFX is allowed. For example, could I use a loud percussion sample as a gun shot? I feel like the licenses only allow for their samples to be used within the context of a musical composition. What if I altered the original sample using effects and/or combined it with other samples to make my own sound? 

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you.

Isn't the sound in a game a sound track, even if it contains only sound effects?
 
Good question.

If you have free versions of synths or free downloads of samples you should check the license that came with them.  Free versions are often limited to "personal use only", though many are not.
 
Anything you've paid for it is a safe bet that you can do whatever you like. After all, the whole point of musical instruments (or any sound producing instrument) is to create noise that you then try to sell.   In the case of samples and sample libraries it's still best to check the license terms, there may or may not be royalties due and minor annoyances like that, but that would be up to the game publishers legal department to sort out.

If the sound you end up with is unrecognizable as the sound from a synth or whatever source it would be extremely difficult to claim anything about it. Also it would be on the claimant to prove you used their stuff. That may be an impossibility depending one how well you mangled the sound. There could be a lot of legal talk that prohibits  such use its a very different matter to prove it in court. Also some damage would have to be shown which is not all that easy anyway let alone with a sound that is unrecognizable as being the root sound. Not damage to the sound but damage to the creator. Now, I am no lawyer so my opinion is worthless. 

Thanks for your input. I'll play around with what I have and see if I can make something usable. Whatever I do end up creating will definitely be altered from the original so I'm guessing I shouldn't run into any legal trouble. I doubt these companies have people listening that closely to SFX in games to see if someone is using their instruments (assuming they'd even have a problem if we did). 

Every for-sale synth and library I know of is free and clear to use in your own productions - for profit or not.  Libraries are usually restricted in that you can't repackage and sell the samples/patches.  Some "free" synths and samples are restricted from being used in commercial work since the products are teasers - they want you to buy their product before making money off it.  But if you paid for the product, you should be free to use to make a profit.  Otherwise, it is crippled, since even most hobbyists envision their work as possibly commercial.
 
If you are really paranoid, track down every synth and separate sound used and find the copyright on it. But as noted above, actually identifying a sound or patch in a mix is usually odds defying.
 
@

There is a site called Freesound.org
Great place to get free sounds for use. Read the rules and the license that govern their use. Some allow total access. Others restrict their use with certain CC license.

I have some sounds I post there a few years ago. Have more that I need to post. Just keep forgetting. But it's a great resource.

The user licensie agreement for Sonar and most synths I can think of is that you are free to use the sounds in your commercial productions. Read it again for yourself and if it does not read clear, take a copy to a lawyer. What most products prohibit is redistribution in various forms like taking the raw samples and selling them as a sample collection and other forms of simply repackaging the sounds themselves for sale.

Some sound libraries prohibt the use of recordings that expose the raw samples.. i.e. must be placed in a musical context..

Grem
There is a site called Freesound.org
Great place to get free sounds for use. Read the rules and the license that govern their use. Some allow total access. Others restrict their use with certain CC license.

I have some sounds I post there a few years ago. Have more that I need to post. Just keep forgetting. But it's a great resource.

Thanks for the link to Freesound. If it turns out we have more trouble making custom SFX than we can thought, that looks like a great resource. 

Thanks for all the advice, everyone :)