Using Garritan libraries in Reaper

Garritan instruments are used in Reaper by opening the ARIA Player plug-in. Once your tracks are set up, add keyswitches and MIDI messages to bring realism to the performance of your music, and fine tune the sound of Garritan instruments. Garritan libraries use both keyswitches and MIDI messages to change instrument techniques, articulations, and effects.

This article will walk you through setting up Reaper to recognize the ARIA Player, selecting Garritan instruments for your tracks, assigning channels, and adding MIDI messages to affect playback.

Setting up the ARIA player in Reaper

In order for the ARIA Player plug-in to be available in Reaper, the ARIA Player VST plug-in must be copied to on of the plug-in folder(s) you've designated in Reaper, or, the folder containing the ARIA Player plug-in must be added to Reaper. The ARIA player is available as both a 32-bit plug-in (ARIA Player VST_x86.dll) and a 64-bit plug-in (ARIA Player VST_x64.dll). Make sure that you're copying the correct plug-in for 32-bit or 64-bit Reaper.

ClosedTo set up the ARIA Player on Mac:

 Installing the ARIA Player VST will automatically install the necessary components to /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST.

  1. Open Reaper.
  2. From the Options menu, choose Preferences. REAPER Preferences appear.
  3. Under Plug-ins, choose VST.

  1. Make sure that /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST is one of the listed plug-in paths, and then click Re-scan.
ClosedTo set up the ARIA player on Windows:

The ARIA Player plug-ins can be found in C:\Program Files\Garritan\ARIA Player\VST.

  1. Open Reaper.
  2. From the Options menu, choose Preferences. REAPER Preferences appear.
  3. Under Plug-ins, choose VST.

  1. In VST plug-ins settings, either add the folder containing the ARIA Player plug-ins, or copy the .dll files into the folder currently recognized by Reaper as a plug-in path.

To add a plug-in path, click Add, and then choose your folder.

  1. Click Re-scan, and then click OK.

Setting up tracks

Garritan libraries are available in Reaper using the ARIA Player plug-in on a Virtual Instrument Track. Additionally, easily create MIDI tracks and route them to the 16 slots in the ARIA Player.

ClosedTo set up a Virtual Instrument Track using Garritan instruments:
  1. Open or create a Reaper project.
  2. From the Track menu, select Insert Virtual Instrument on New Track. A list of plug-ins appear.

  1. Select VSTi: ARIA Player (Garritan), and then click OK.

If desired, Mac users can also choose the Audio Unit version of the ARIA Player (AUi: Garritan: ARIA Player)

Once you click OK, the ARIA Player appears.

  1. Click empty on slot 1 and load an instrument.

Note that the number on the left indicates the slot number, while the gray number in the lower right indicates the MIDI channel. To change the MIDI channel, click the gray number, and then select a new MIDI channel.

Click the FX button on either the track you created, or on the channel strip in the mixer to show or hide the ARIA Player.

ClosedTo create MIDI tracks for each instrument slot in the ARIA Player:
  1. Open the ARIA Player window.
  2. From the Options menu, choose Build 16 channels of MIDI routing to this track.

On Mac, the Options menu is in the top menu bar when the ARIA Player plug-in window is active, and on PC, the Options menu is within the ARIA Player plug-in window.

Reaper creates 16 tracks routed to the ARIA Player using MIDI channels 1 through 16. Close the ARIA Player window to see them.

Controlling Playback

Use MIDI messages and keyswitches to make your music more expressive and realistic. In Garritan libraries, Keyswitch instruments are identified by a KS in the name. The keyswitch is created by adding a specifically designated note found below the instrument's range into the instrument track.

To see how these features work, we will use a track with a KS patch loaded in the ARIA Player, and add both a MIDI CC message and a keyswitch.

ClosedTo add a keyswitch:
  1. Double-click the MIDI region you want to add the articulation change to. The MIDI take window appears.
  2. In the MIDI take window, double-click or click and drag to add the note that triggers the keyswitch to the selected MIDI region.

ClosedTo add MIDI CC information to a MIDI region:
  1. Double-click the MIDI region you want to add the MIDI CC information to. The MIDI take window appears.
  2. Use the drop-down menu in the bottom left corner of the MIDI take window to add a lane for the desired CC message.

  1. Draw the MIDI values into the new lane.

 

Reaper Setup

Adding Instruments

Controlling Playback

 

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