Garritan Personal Orchestra

W

WinstonCowboy

New member
Hey,

How many own these libraries? And, what do you use them with? I am thinking about using them with something like a M-Audio Radium midi controller...in Sonar. What do you think?

Pros? Cons?

I am most interested in the Piano sounds.
 
Winston - I have the GPO, at the suggestion of some people here.

It is very impressive, and I use it in a similar way (well, a Novation remote 25 in Cubase, but same principle); this is exactly as it's intended to be used. (As long as the Radium has a mod wheel - presumably it does?)

It comes with a huge Steinway - you need to take a coffee break while it loads! The only thing I would say is that you really need to be prepared to devote some time to it. If you don't play the instruments properly they'll sound bad, because you are dealing with high quality raw samples rather than pre processed stuff that sounds OK if you just trigger it. You have to use the mod wheel all the time on the strings, for example, and it takes time to get the expression right.

As long as you're prepared to take the time, I think it's one of those things you would never regret buying.
 
If you are just after pianos, there are a couple of NI interfaced plug ins that are piano based and I think they may be a bit better.... but you'd have to listen to the demos to decide.

I have GPO... and a piano, so I don't use it for the piano. The instrument samples are good but as Garry mentioned, may take a bit of time to learn. For example, you must have some controller data (mod wheel) on the track to get volume.... On another website, a number of people mentioned some clicks and pops in the samples..... the GPO people stated they were unable to reproduce the problem and the people did report they were on different samples (one guy had problems with the oboe anothe with the trombone). It is not a loop point issue and may have to do with utilizing the resources of Sonar. I have not had those issues and am pleased with the purchase.

Being a bit of a software.... okay JUNKIE (there are you happy now), I also have EWQLSilver. It is about the same price and has a little different spin. For example, in GPO you build your woodwind and brass ensambles with individual "players") in EWQLSilver, the ensembles are already built. I like them both and would try to listen to demos of both. I am not sure why, but GPO seems to be a bit more popular. Gary Garritan is very responsive with help and feedback, so that is a definite plus.

IMHO, GPO is a good purchase.

Take Care
 
I looked at East West too, was a close call. However, I think that you are locked into reverb settings with EWQL silver, IIRC, they don't have the dry alternatives that GPO does.
 
Garry, true enough. That is one of the differences. Some people say that the brass in EWQLsilver is a bit better for "modern" or pop work than than brass in GPO. They are both good libraries. I think there are demos or at least demo mp3s..... they may help you decide. I don't think you'd go wrong with either of them.

Take Care
 
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