Garittan Personal Orchestra

Sorry for a kind of dumb thread, but I was thinking of getting Garritan Personal Orchestra for my computer. Do you guys think its worth the money and are there any other better programs out there? I have to give recordings for competitions all the time and I usually just give the MIDI, but I'm afraid that doesn't sound good at all.

Thanks a lot

it depends on how much you want to pay...

garritan persona orchestra is a good deal for price and quality, which is inexpensive, but if you have a lot of money and also the right instruments, you can buy any library from eastwest. they are better quality, and more realistic in sound than garritan, but also require a lot of ram and a good computer. but i am totally sure that with garritan you'll do a good job as well ;)

To paraphrase Punkititi's post: it depends on what you expect from your final result, and what your intentions are.

GPO is an inexpensive sample library, that is well-integrated into Finale, Sibelius, and quite usable with pretty much any sequencer.

For the price, you will not find any other equivalent.

If the recording you make is not the "end product" (as you have let us assume, you appear to want only demos to accompany submissions?) such as for a film score, then GPO is more than ample. It has a decently realistic sound (not perfect, but considering the cost) and is easy to use.

You can have a listen to some of my demos done using GPO and Finale. That at least should give you an idea of what it can sound like. I don't work particularly hard at making my demos, so with additional work, you can get a considerably better sound out of it.

There ARE many considerably better sample libraries, as has been said, however, the cost is also considerably higher. Speaking for myself, I am quite happy with what I get from GPO as well as the other Garritan libraries I own.

My best advice is:

Purchase a variety of sample libraries- given that you have enough funds. If you're just starting out then this might need to be a "one at a time" kind of deal. Having a variety of sample packages will give you a wider variety of samples to draw from. The way the strings sound in VSL vs East West vs Project SAM vs GPO varies greatly. This is especially true with articulations and effects.

GPO, as QCC stated, is a good starting point. From there, branch out into other collections. If you're going for realism, I've found using a combination of libraries can present the best illusion of reality.

Take care,

Nate

My best advice is:

Purchase a variety of sample libraries- given that you have enough funds. If you're just starting out then this might need to be a "one at a time" kind of deal. Having a variety of sample packages will give you a wider variety of samples to draw from. The way the strings sound in VSL vs East West vs Project SAM vs GPO varies greatly. This is especially true with articulations and effects.

GPO, as QCC stated, is a good starting point. From there, branch out into other collections. If you're going for realism, I've found using a combination of libraries can present the best illusion of reality.

Take care,

Nate

I wish i could do that... make my life a lot easier.

Thanks a lot everyone. Ya it would mostly just be for creating a recording to go along with submissions (because the end version would idealy be a live performance :P). I just don't know how much better GPO would be than the MIDIs I get from Sibelius 5.