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Anyone used this? It seems like it could be complementary to BiaB.
It has a lot of libraries, though, so it's hard to tell which items are plug-ins and which are, y'know, the base product. (Web page designers take note...)
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(I stumbled upon it when someone mentioned using a notation software.)
(The last notation software I used was 'Score' in 1988, and I still have the scars.)
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GPO is pretty decent. I have it in my DAW. I used to do a lot of midi composing and it was used quite a bit. Now days, I work a lot with audio so it hasn't been loaded in quite some time.
Quality wise, it's good. Price point is good too. Not to expensive. If you need something that's a step up from GM sounds and are not sure what to get, GPO is a good option.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I have GPO and it is a good starting point into better orchestra sounds. Is GPO as good as the much more expensive software? Well no, but those packages start around $500 to well over $1,000 USD. However GPO is a huge step up from GM strings. GPO and other Garritan software gives you the best bang for your buck.
I have a couple of the more expensive orchestra packages and I still layer them with GPO.
I suggest that you use a DAW with GPO and not BiaB. That way you can have each instrument on a different track, i.e. violins on one track, cellos on another, solo violin on another etc. You have better pan control this way plus you can control things like reverb level, articulation levels etc for each track.
I would not hesitate in buying GPO or any other Garritan package.
I hope this helps and good luck.
Love is grand.
Divorce is twenty grand!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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The next step up is Kontakt. If you can swing the price to get in the door with Kontakt, it is what I consider, and many others in the Film and TV composing world as well, to be the starting point for professional sound quality needed to do that sort of production that isn't flagged as "less than" what is required to be competitive for broadcast standards.
All sounds are samples and well recorded samples at that. In addition, there are a ton of 3rd party sound packs available for Kontakt.
If you're looking for good sound quality and want to get a good platform, skip GPO, and go straight to Kontakt. You won't regret doing that.
And ditto to Mario's advice to use a DAW and not BB for playing with the better synths. Import your BB tracks into the DAW and add the synth tracks in the DAW. It's so much easier to work in this manner in a DAW.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 04/08/17 02:13 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I use GPO, a lite version, all of the time for it's steinway piano sound. I will apply a shelving filter to roll off the high end. I get compliments on the sound all of the time, even though it's not a dedicated sample set just for piano. I think most close-mike sampled pianos have too much high end in them. That's not the way you hear the piano from across a room, the air attenuates quite a bit of the high end. Here is a recent song I did where I re-interpreted Erik Satie's Trois Gymnopedies (timing of the melody is intentionally off in the first part of the song, not unlike what it sounds like to my ear). The piano is from GPO, highs rolled off quite a lot, and then lots of reverb added in. https://soundcloud.com/rockstar_not/whisper-gymnopedies-scott-lake
Last edited by rockstar_not; 04/08/17 01:18 PM.
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I love the Garritan products even though I have Philharmonik as well. To me each has a purpose. Philharomik sounds "earthier" but Garritan is pretty darned warm and rich to my ears. I also have Garritan Abbey Road Grand, and I love it, love it, love it. Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 is superb, and I also own the Garritan Jazz and World Instruments. This is where BIAB does come into play. I have Jazz Band templates in Aria/Garritan Jazz Band so even when I am using a Jazz midi style in BIAB I run the instruments through Garritan Jazz Band and they sound awesome. Or Real Band, or Sonar. They sound great where ever I use them. On the first link the first two song used GPO 5 sounds, and the classical album on the right hand in the "more links" columns used GPO5. https://soundcloud.com/davidsnyder_albumcollectionThis song is GPO5, from a classical album I did last year. https://soundcloud.com/davidsfilmmusic/first-of-septemberMany of these song use GPO5. https://soundcloud.com/davidsfilmmusicMy vote is that Garritan is a very affordable place to start and may be all you need for a while. As mentioned in an earlier post, people are actively streaming the classical stuff and buying it so they must be pretty happy with the quality. My latest classical album (referenced above) was done entirely in Real Band although I have Sonar and every VST known to man. All I used was Real Band, GPO5, and two classical guitars, using no effects.
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Wow, thanks for all this. I'm looking at all the suggestions.
My vision is to be able to score things in traditional notation in the instrument's traditional clef, and have it come out as a reasonable approximation. I think most people work with keyboards so that's what the software demos show, but a lot of times I find it easier to notate what I hear in my head.
I'm less concerned about the price and more about the time investment. I struggle to find time to work with BiaB; if I get some orchestration software I don't want to learn it only to be frustrated and have to learn a whole new thing. (Always with the learning new things!!!!)
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MarioD, yeah, see that's ANOTHER thing I gotta figure out: The whole DAW thing. =P
GuitarHacker, thanks for the Kontakt tip.
David, thanks for the actual examples! It gives me a good idea of some things that can be done.
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You have to be aware, though, that Garritan instruments, unlike other sound libraries, implements volume control in a non traditional way...it uses the mod wheel.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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I'm less concerned about the price and more about the time investment. I struggle to find time to work with BiaB; if I get some orchestration software I don't want to learn it only to be frustrated and have to learn a whole new thing. (Always with the learning new things!!!!)
Both GPO and Kontakt are relatively easy to learn. If you already know how to insert a synth into a DAW, this is a no-brainer. I was up and running with Kontakt, exploring it's sounds within minutes of installing it. If money is not a problem, go with Kontakt.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 04/11/17 12:43 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I'm less concerned about the price and more about the time investment. I struggle to find time to work with BiaB; if I get some orchestration software I don't want to learn it only to be frustrated and have to learn a whole new thing. (Always with the learning new things!!!!)
Both GPO and Kontakt are relatively easy to learn. If you already know how to insert a synth into a DAW, this is a no-brainer. I was up and running with Kontakt, exploring it's sounds within minutes of installing it. If money is not a problem, go with Kontakt. I agree with Herb. Kontakt has a lot of third party patch developers and most are very good to outstanding. With Garritan you are stuck with what you get, i.e. no expansion. There a some Kontakt third party full orchestras as well as orchestra sections that blow Garritan as well as the stock Kontakt (although Kontakt has very good orchestra patches) sounds out of the water. Of course they do cost quite a bit of money. Good luck.
Love is grand.
Divorce is twenty grand!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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With Garritan you are stuck with what you get, i.e. no expansion. Well, not exactly. While not as prevalent as Kontakt, all the Garritan libraries run using the Aria Engine (in the Aria Player). Everything from Garritan runs through the Aria interface, just like you run multiple instruments through the Kontakt interface. Aria is kind of the big brother to Sforzando, which does everything Sforzando does plus a lot more (such as bundling sounds into libraries, like the Garritan instruments). Garritan Personal Orchestra is just one of many sound libraries available along wit the CFX Grand Piano, Classic Pipe Organs, Instant Orchestra, Jazz and Big Band, Concert and Marching Band, Harps, and World Instruments, all of which use the Aria Engine and presented to the user by the Aria Player (much like the Kontakt interface). What is the ARIA Engine?
The ARIA Engine is an audio sampling and synthesis Engine, developed by Plogue Art et Technologie Inc in collaboration with Garritan Corp now part of MakeMusic, Inc.
It is fully compatible with 32bits and 64bits architectures on OS X, Windows and iOS. It can be used as a standalone application or as a VST, Audio Unit, RTAS or AAX plugin. It is based on the SFZ 1.0 / SFZ 2.0 open file formats for instrument programming and the Scala open file format to define scales and temperaments.
The first software instrument in the ARIA engine was the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Model D Piano Library, endorsed by and in cooperation with Steinway & Sons. Today, the ARIA Engine can be found in various software from Garritan, Plogue, AKAI, Sony, Microsoft and MakeMusic.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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John you are correct. I should have specified that all Garritan's expansions are only from Garritan while Kontakt has many third party patch makers.
Sorry for the confusion.
Love is grand.
Divorce is twenty grand!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Here we have a perfectly good opportunity for a flame war completely ruined by civility and respect!
It's almost like I'm not on the Internet!
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Here we have a perfectly good opportunity for a flame war completely ruined by civility and respect!
It's almost like I'm not on the Internet! Welcome to the PG Music Forums! 
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Love is grand.
Divorce is twenty grand!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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