Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 at a glance

Thank you for choosing Garritan Personal Orchestra 5. Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 is state-of-the-art software that reproduces the sounds of a symphony orchestra. It has set the standard for orchestral sample libraries.

At its core, Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 contains samples of many meticulously recorded orchestral instruments. Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 integrates a uniquely powerful and high-performance specialized software sampler designed by Plogue Art et Technologie Inc. More than just sampling, the ARIA Player includes specially tailored acoustic programming designed to reproduce the sounds of real orchestral instruments.

There are many uses for Garritan Personal Orchestra 5:

  • Music composition and arrangement
  • Home and project recording studios to provide symphonic orchestral sounds
  • A tool with which to learn orchestration in schools, music colleges and conservatories
  • Working on scores and parts before committing to a real orchestra
  • When accompaniment is needed for practice
  • Rehearsal before a performance
  • Live performance
  • A portable instrument for playing with friends or on stage

Our goal is to bring the rich sound of an orchestra to as many musicians as we can with the highest degree of realism possible on current home computer hardware. We believe, however, that no matter how technologically advanced software instruments may become, no virtual simulation can ever replace a real orchestra. It is our hope that this software orchestra will lead people to consider working with real orchestras and real musicians.

What's new in GPO 5

GPO 5 is the most significant update to Garritan Personal Orchestra since its introduction in 2004. GPO 5's instrument list includes over 70% more patches compared to the previous version, GPO4. The largest single addition is the Garritan Orchestral Strings, which includes section, small section, and solo patches in a wide variety of bowing techniques and effects, along with new sampled body resonances in many of the solo strings. The following groupings are included in GPO 5 (see Directory of GPO 5 instrument patches for individual patches):

What the Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 package includes

This Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 library includes the following:

Note: Make sure to get the latest ARIA Player update. Periodic updates are always being made. Log in to your account at www.garritan.com/support to get the very latest.

  • The “Garritan ARIA Player” installer file that contains the ARIA Player software and the ARIA Player User Manual.
  • The “Garritan Personal Orchestra 5” installer file that contains the Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 sample library and Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 User Manual.

If you have not received an activation key card by e-mail, a unique serial number is provided so that you can register the product and receive a key card. Don’t lose this—store it in a safe place! You may have received this serial number through a reseller if you purchased a download version from them.

Before you begin the installation, make sure you have read the End User License Agreement. By installing the software, you are indicating that you agree to the terms of the license.

Reading this manual is "instrumental".

The goal of this manual is to help you learn how to use the instruments of Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 and how to use the controls to play the instruments. Although many dislike reading manuals, if you wish to get the most out of this new library it is essential to read this manual. Doing so will help you understand how to use this software library. The operation of many of the essential features is not immediately obvious and we realize that many users are not music technologists.

The ARIA Player has a separate manual that gives complete instructions for its usage. Please refer to the separate ARIA Player User Manual for information about installing and using ARIA Player. The ARIA Player User Manual is an important part of the documentation.

We’ll do our best to make it easy for you to use this manual and to provide information about the various instruments and modes of control. And, of course, by no means can performance and technique be taught from this or any other manual. Individual study and research will enhance your ability to use this library.

Getting started

You can use any of the Garritan libraries on their own, for live play with a MIDI keyboard or other MIDI controller, or as a plug-in with a notation program or DAW. All of the Garritan libraries are accessed through the ARIA Player and can be used interchangeably with each other. The first step to bringing your music to life with the Garritan sounds is to learn to use the ARIA Player. This will give you control over basic functions such as mixing and panning, as well as instrument-specific performance techniques such as bowings, articulations, vibrato, special effects and much more.

The ARIA Player user manual will guide you through the basics of the ARIA interface and controls. For more information about each library and the instrument-specific controls, refer to the library-specific guides. You will find all of these manuals in the library installation folder on your computer.

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Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 User Manual

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