Garritan's Personal Orchestra question

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Psalms98_4
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Garritan's Personal Orchestra question

Post by Psalms98_4 »

Hello,
I am currently using MOTU DP4.6 and Symphonic Instrument. I love them both. In any case, a friend said that I should check out Garritan's Personal Orchestra. I went to this link http://www.garritan.com/DP_GPO_tut.html and I see that it will work with DP4.6. However, I have not been able to find any examples of Garritan sounds.

What is your opinion concerning Garritan's sounds compared with Symphonic Instrument? Have any of you used Garritan's and can I hear a sample of it?

Thanks! :D
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builder
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Post by builder »

I can tell you for its size and for the cost is it a very good library. I hear it is on par with Symphonic instrument, though I haven't heard Symphonic instrument....

I would think you have things covers with SI....

I wish I had something to post for you to hear but all my current project are not using them....
Music - http://www.missingpalmerwest.com/Missin ... songs.html

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Psalms98_4
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Post by Psalms98_4 »

builder wrote:I can tell you for its size and for the cost is it a very good library. I hear it is on par with Symphonic instrument, though I haven't heard Symphonic instrument....

I would think you have things covers with SI....

I wish I had something to post for you to hear but all my current project are not using them....
Thanks Builder! I was able to listen to some of the samples on Garritan's web site but, I don't know that they were created in DP and I don't know how much tweaking it took to get them to sound the way they do. Also, all things being equal (between what I have heard with SI and what I heard with Garritan's), I didn't hear anything that jumped out and made me want to rush out there and buy it either. Garritan's sounded really good but, I don't know that there was anything special there that I couldn't just as easily achieve with SI.

In any cse, thanks for the input Builder!
excatcher
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Re: Garritan's Personal Orchestra question

Post by excatcher »

I'm sure you've heard it a million times: every library has something that no other library has, and even the gravely expensive ones are dotted with dogs. As my budget permits I purchase all the libraries that have good reputations and cherry pick the samples that sound good to my ear. I own SI and Garritan but find that I rarely use those samples since I invested in the Quantum Leap and Vienna libraries. As for hearing the Garritan sounds you might want to check out the Finale site••”I think they're called makingmusic.com these days. They've got a bundle promotion with the GPO.

Good luck.
Psalms98_4 wrote:Hello,
I am currently using MOTU DP4.6 and Symphonic Instrument. I love them both. In any case, a friend said that I should check out Garritan's Personal Orchestra. I went to this link http://www.garritan.com/DP_GPO_tut.html and I see that it will work with DP4.6. However, I have not been able to find any examples of Garritan sounds.

What is your opinion concerning Garritan's sounds compared with Symphonic Instrument? Have any of you used Garritan's and can I hear a sample of it?

Thanks! :D
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Shooshie
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Post by Shooshie »

I don't know the range of Garritan's instruments, but the MOTU SI library is very short on ranges. They chopped the top and/or bottom ends off of most of the instruments, conforming roughly with what you might find in a 1902 beginning orchestration textbook. Not good. If you can find out what the ranges are of the Garritan instruments, that might become a salient factor.

Shooshie
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Psalms98_4
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Post by Psalms98_4 »

Shooshie wrote:I don't know the range of Garritan's instruments, but the MOTU SI library is very short on ranges. They chopped the top and/or bottom ends off of most of the instruments, conforming roughly with what you might find in a 1902 beginning orchestration textbook. Not good. If you can find out what the ranges are of the Garritan instruments, that might become a salient factor.

Shooshie
GREAT advice! Thank you! :D
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Frodo
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Post by Frodo »

I have Garritan full version as well as the smaller version that comes with Finale 2006. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed in the sounds. For a about 20% more, the Vitous Philharmonik library offers much more gratifying sounds and is easier on the ears. Also, unlike Garritan, Vitous doesn't dump and reload all of your samples every time you click out and back in a particular window. I've gotten a lot more done with better results with Philharmonik, personally...
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obliou
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Post by obliou »

As far as ranges go: I use GPO as playback in Finale and the ranges seem more contemporary. I had written a cello part that went to the C in the third space of the treble clef and it played back fine with the Garritan instrument.
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Post by FM »

GPO is ok for the price and for what it does.
i have found some of the instruments very unresponsive, i gotta feeling that you probably won't get the most out of it unless you use some kind of expression pedal along with whatever controller you're using.

if you still want to hear more, there's a song on my site called "Infinite Loop" that is about 95% GPO instruments. i still need to remix it but it gets the point across.
the song called "Milk Mother Sleep - Pt One" has a few GPO instruments.
you will need Flash Player 8 to enter the site.

hope that helps!

FM

FM pays absolutely no attention to the man behind the curtain.
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MIDI Life Crisis
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Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Also have Garritan full and Finale version and hardly use either.
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dbudde
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Post by dbudde »

I did a demo using GPO on my site. But the demo is mainly to demonstrate the Sibelius plugin, so don't judge the mix. I did use DP though so it works fine with DP.
westla
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Post by westla »

I guess I agree with what other people are saying.

I have GPO and the full version, I'm not a fan of either really (I like EWQLSO Gold and Plat, as well as Vienna much more). That being said I really dislike MOTU SI. For orchestra emulation type music, I find it can't be used on a professional final project.

Then again it's intended for that. Just my thoughts.
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Frodo
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Post by Frodo »

westla wrote:I guess I agree with what other people are saying.

I have GPO and the full version, I'm not a fan of either really (I like EWQLSO Gold and Plat, as well as Vienna much more). That being said I really dislike MOTU SI. For orchestra emulation type music, I find it can't be used on a professional final project.

Then again it's intended for that. Just my thoughts.
I have VSL and use this for critical projects. I was in search of an orchestra library that was easier on the ears than general MIDI, less troublesome to set up than outboard MIDI gear, and faster to use on Finale scoring projects that didn't require the intensity of VSL. Vitous Philharmonik seemed to fill that gap inexpensively, and although MSI offered a greater divrersity of sounds (ethnic intstruments, etc.) Vitous seemed more musically expressive for the kinds of things I wanted to accomplish. I've even used Vitous on professional scoring sessions with very pleasant results.

GPO just didn't cut it-- plus there have been huge problems with the authorization system. It has been a total pain, but maybe someone else can find use for it...
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obliou
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Post by obliou »

MIDI Life: I'm really just a rank beginner when it comes to most of this stuff... my comment was mostly about the ranges in GPO seeming correct. I'm curious about why you don't use it or Finale. What do you use and why do you like it? I'm here to learn...[/list]
RainMan034

Post by RainMan034 »

Psalms98_4 wrote:
T Garritan's sounded really good but, I don't know that there was anything special there that I couldn't just as easily achieve with SI.
garritan is fully customizable...which is really a pain in the ass from a certain perspective. That is to say that many of the sounds don't sound orchestra ready right off the bat. It requires a little fine tuning to get them that way. The sounds do NOT come like the samples that you hear in the demo's. If you have patience for tweaking things, GPO isn't bad. The strings sound pretty good and the woodwinds for the most part sound absolutely excellent! The percussion is pretty crappy imho, and the brass is a throwaway as well.
From what I have used of Symphonic Instrument, its pretty strong and has more instrument sounds (choir included) than GPO...the Strings didn't quite sound as sharp as GPO but I got an overall good vibe from my time with it.

Each has its strengths but it will be up to you to weigh the good and the bad and decide what it is that you are looking for.

Hope I was helpful.

:)

Ryan
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