SNAMM05: Behind The Scenes At Garritan

US GPO and new Big Band Collection 28/07/05

Tom Hopkins and Gary Garritan

Buying Choices

Affilliate Links help support the site

Thereâ€™s been quite a hoohah around the Garritan Personal Orchestra â€“ people from all areas of music making have been gob-smacked by the quality of this orchestral collection. The library utilizes Native Instruments Kontakt engine, Tom Hopkins, the brains behind the programming of the instruments found it to be the best playback engine available to get the desired results. We spoke to both Tom and Gary Garritan himself at length about the construction of the Garritan libraries and got an insight into the way they are put together. There are several reasons why the GPO has been so popular, the quality of the instruments sampled are high â€“ SteinwayÂ® concert grand piano, a Stradivarius violin, Wurlitzer and Venus concert harps, Haynes flutes, Heckel bassoons, a Mustel celeste, a Rudolf von Beckerath concert pipe organ, a harpsichord, and many other exquisite instruments. It even includes multiple solo instruments. The ensemble builder is another key allowing you to build ensembles one instrument at a time from individual solo instruments. This allows the user to construct ensembles or sections of any size - solo instruments, duos, trios, quartets, chamber ensembles, small orchestras, or a full symphonic orchestra. The GPO covers all areas of the orchestra and uses multi-voiced instruments â€“ using separate players for each voice for added realism.The library comes on 4CD ROMS and comes with GenieSoft's Overtureâ„¢ LE notation program, Cubasis VSTâ„¢ (for PC) and AMBIENCE Reverb. But whatâ€™s really got the punters salivating is the price - just $249. Garritan have another library in the pipeline too. The Jazz and Big Band Collection features the instruments found in er, a jazz big band funnilly enough. Tom Hopkins, a trumpet player himself (if you listen closely you will hear him) worked long and hard on the articulations and construction of the complex brass and wind intruments, so we expect it will be of a simillarly high quality as the GPO. Featured Instruments:

Saxophones:
1 Sopranino saxophone, 1 Mezzo Soprano saxophone, 3 Soprano saxophones (2 straight, 1 curved), 3 Alto saxophones, 1 C Melody saxophone, 3 Tenor saxophones, 1 Baritone saxophone, 1 Bass saxophone, 1 Contrabass saxophone, 1 Subcontrabass saxophone, plus derivative ensemble instruments Â®

Trumpets:
5 Bb Trumpets (all with extended range, one with extremely extended range), Open, straight mute, cup mute, Harmon mute, bucket mute Flugelhorns Plus derivative ensemble instruments

Trombones:
4 Tenor Trombones & 1 Bass Trombone open, straight mute, cup mute,Harmon mute, bucket mute Plus derivative ensemble instruments

Tuba

Keyboards:
Steinway B grand piano, Vintage electric piano

Guitars:
2 Electric guitars, 1 Acoustic guitar

Additional Woodwinds:
1 Piccolo, 1 Alto Flute, 1 C Flute, 1 Bb Clarinet, 1 Bass Clarinet Plus derivative ensemble instruments

Basses:
2 Upright acoustic basses, 2 Fretless electric basses, 2 Fretted electric basses

Drum Kits:
Stick kit (single head and double head) plus separate instruments (kick, snare, toms, hi-hat, cymbals) Brush kit plus separate instruments

Percussion:
Vibraphone (hard and soft mallets) Wide variety of percussion including Latin percussion, bongos, congas, timbales, wood blocks, bells, whistles, etc. For more information including MP3 demos and glowing testimonials:

www.garritan.com

Garritan Social